Monday, 28 February 2011

Meghli vs Muffin



                                                   [Notice how Andy eats the famous muffin]


What a day! Started by wanting to cycle to the city, walk around and take photographs on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. Exciting plan if the weather and weather forecasts didn't betray us, from a sunny morning to a cold and rainy day. The good thing though is I got to discover the world of Lomography and have Ethiopian food for lunch at the Sunday market in Brick Lane, yummm! I have been watching films since 6pm, for more than 5 hrs. Started by The Wall Street I film ( finally got to watch it after watching part II ) and after that watched Part 4 of The Promise on Channel 4, a very intense ending to the 4 part series. A must see series-still available online to watch.

I promised Andy that I will write a post about him and his addiction to muffins (see earlier posts), which inspired me to make an equally , if not more, delicious and healthier traditional Lebanese dessert - Meghli. A better way to have a dessert without gaining extra weight, well at least much less than having a muffin.


Meghli is a dessert similar to rice pudding and is usually served in Lebanese homes after a baby birth. My mum makes it as well for Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and we have it as one of the desserts during Christmas dinner at my aunt's house every year. At home in Beirut, we love this dessert so much that we don't care if there's a birth in the family, we just make it and eat it whenever we crave it, no occasions needed :-)

Meghli is very simple and easy, takes about 45min to make.

Here are the ingredients:
  • half cup ground rice
  • 1 table spoon caraway
  • 1 table spoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup sugar
For the toppings, you will need
  • desiccated coconut
  • pistachio
  • almonds
  • pine nuts
  • walnuts
Add all the ingredients in a pot, mix them well, then add 5 cups of water. Put the pot on the hub, stir well with a whisk until the mix starts boiling and becomes thicker. Lower the heat, add 1 cup of sugar, mix it well until the sugar dissolves.

To prepare the toppings, put the pistachios, almonds and pine nuts in a bowl with water for few hours until they soften. When soft, peel the pistachios and almonds.

When toppings ready, serve the Meghli with desiccated coconut and a mix of nuts, pine nuts, walnuts, almonds and pistachio.


I wish all desserts were delicious, nutritious and most importantly non fattening as much as the Meghli!

Muffin you're out, Meghli you're in! I hope I will keep my motto for tomorrow and not be tempted by another raspberry and white chocolate muffin!



2 comments:

  1. yesterday was a very drizzzly day! strangely I was listening to ethiopian music yesterday (1970's jazz, try 'Yegelle Tezeta' by Mulatu Astatke, or 'Asmarina')... But is Meghli as good as the greek Halva (with semolina), that is the question on my mind...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yumm halva, I thought that was Lebanese ;-)

    ReplyDelete