Dessert · Rosewater Milk Pudding

Malabi

📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

Unlike custard, malabi sets without a single egg — its silky wobble comes purely from cornstarch or rice flour.

Malabi is a chilled milk pudding thickened with cornstarch or rice flour and lightly perfumed with rosewater, set in cups until silky and jiggly. Street carts and dessert stalls top it with bright red syrup, shredded coconut, and chopped pistachios or peanuts.

Why it's made this way: The dessert traces back through Ottoman-era confectionery traditions found across the eastern Mediterranean, and its egg-free, cornstarch-set texture is what distinguishes it from custard-based puddings like crème caramel.