This delicious and creamy Arabic rice pudding recipe, aka riz bi haleeb, is made with cooked rice, milk, mastic (optional), cornstarch, sugar, orange blossom water, and rosewater.
The preferable rice for rice pudding is short grain rice. Cook the rice with water until tender.
Mastic is an optional ingredient. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the mastic beads with a teaspoon of sugar into a powder. Set aside.
Mix the cornstarch and milk together BEFORE putting it on the stovetop. Add the sugar and crushed mastic powder.
Bring the milk to a boil, then simmer until it thickens to the consistency similar to a runny custard.
Once the milk has thickened up, add in the cooked rice. Continue simmering until the rice pudding thickens up more (about 10 minutes).
Mix the orange blossom water and rosewater. Allow the rice pudding to cool and thicken up (about 30 minutes). Serve with crushed pistachios.