Ros Bel Laban is a sweet dish that can be served as desert. In the Egyptian dialect “Ros” means rice and “Laban” means milk. The dish is easy to prepare and is very tasty. Ros Bel Laban is a traditional desert that has undergone very little modifications in preparation. It dates back to the time of historic Cairo.

Ingredients (serves Four)

• 2   ½ cups of short  rice
• 1   liter milk
• ½   cup of sugar
• 1   table spoon of starch dissolved in ¼ cup of water
• 1   teaspoon vanilla

Method

Wash the rice thoroughly, then let it settle in water for about 15 minutes. Sieve the rice and place in a pot. Top the rice with water and place on a medium flame. Let the rice boil for five minutes. Do not let the water dry up. The rice is supposed to be soggy! Sieve the partially boiled rice again.

In a separate container add mix the sugar to the milk and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add the sweetened milk to the rice and stir slowly for a minute. Place the mixture of rice milk and sugar on low flame and let it boil for 20 minutes.

Dissolve the starch in some water and add to boiling rice. Stir slowly until the mixture thickens.

Remove from heat. Let it cool for five minutes before you add the vanilla.

Pour into smaller bowls and chill in the fridge.

The above recipe is the original recipe for Ros Bel Laban. However, the toppings may vary. You can be creative. Try unsalted nuts, for example, pistachio and/or hazelnut. Shredded dried coconut will add a special taste to the desert. You can even carry the topping to a further extent and add ice cream as on top of the bowl of Ros. Trust me it will taste nice. Ros Bel Laban is a very high calorie sweet dish and is perfect for breakfast especially if the kids are going to spend a day playing sports.