Sahlab (Warm Milk Pudding Drink)
Abuja, Nigeria · Voir toutes les recettes
Aperçu
Sahlab is warm thickened milk, scented and topped with cinnamon, nuts and coconut. It is drunk across Egypt, the Levant and Turkey in winter, in much the same way hot chocolate is drunk elsewhere. Its name comes from an ingredient this recipe does not contain, and that needs saying plainly. True sahlab is thickened with salep, flour ground from the dried tubers of wild orchids, which gives a distinctive stretchy, slightly chewy texture that nothing else reproduces. Harvesting it requires digging up wild orchids, and the pressure on those populations has been severe enough that Turkey now bans the export of salep outright. Cornflour, which this recipe uses, is the standard modern substitute, and it is what almost all commercial and home versions now use. That makes this a good drink under a name that historically meant something else, which is worth knowing rather than papering over. The one instruction that matters is not to leave the pan. Milk thickened with cornflour catches on the base very readily and scorched milk taints the whole batch. The source repeats a claim that the Romans used orchid drinks as an aphrodisiac. That is recorded as folklore rather than fact.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Sahlab is a warm thickened milk drink of the Levant, Egypt and Turkey, traditionally made with salep, a flour ground from dried wild orchid tubers. Pressure on wild orchid populations has led Turkey to ban the export of salep, and cornflour is now the standard substitute.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Put the milk, sugar and cornflour into a pot and mix very well until there are no lumps at all. Doing this while everything is cold is what prevents lumps later.
- 2
Set the pot over medium-high heat and mix in the vanilla.
- 3
Stir constantly until it begins to boil. This can take 15 to 20 minutes, and you must not leave the pan, thickened milk catches on the base very easily and scorched milk ruins the batch.
- 4
Once it boils, keep stirring for a further 2 to 3 minutes.
- 5
Ladle the lightly thickened, creamy mixture into glasses or cups.
- 6
Top with ground cinnamon, crushed pistachios or walnuts and coconut flakes, and serve warm.
- 7
It can also be refrigerated, in which case it thickens further and sets into something closer to a custard.
Notes de l’Africook
- Mix the cornflour into cold milk. Added to hot milk it seizes into lumps that no amount of stirring disperses.
- Do not leave the pan. Twenty minutes of constant stirring is the recipe, and milk scorches the moment you look away.
- Whole milk gives the best texture. Skimmed milk produces something thin and slightly chalky.
- Chill it and it sets into a custard rather than a drink, which is a legitimate second use for the same pot.
- The toppings are not decoration. Cinnamon, pistachios and coconut are what make it more than sweet milk.
- Almond milk works for a vegan version, though it sets slightly softer.
Questions fréquentes
What is salep?
Flour ground from the dried tubers of wild orchids, and the ingredient sahlab is named after. It gives the drink a distinctive stretchy, faintly chewy texture that no substitute reproduces. Harvesting it means digging up wild orchids, and the pressure on those populations has been severe, Turkey now bans the export of salep entirely. Cornflour is the standard modern replacement and is what this recipe and most commercial versions use.
So is this real sahlab?
It is what almost everybody now drinks under that name, but it is thickened with cornflour rather than salep. That is worth knowing rather than glossing over: the texture is smoother and less elastic than the traditional version, and the flavour comes from the milk, vanilla and toppings rather than from the orchid flour itself. Given the conservation situation, cornflour is also the responsible choice.
Why does it need constant stirring?
Because cornflour-thickened milk catches on the base of the pan very readily, and once milk scorches the burnt flavour goes right through the batch and cannot be removed. Twenty minutes of continuous stirring sounds excessive and is not, this is the one recipe where walking away for a phone call genuinely ruins it. A heavy-based pan and moderate heat both help.
Can it be eaten cold?
Yes, and it becomes a different thing. Refrigerated, the cornflour sets further and sahlab firms into a custard or pudding that is eaten with a spoon rather than drunk. Both are legitimate. Warm, it is a winter drink comparable to hot chocolate; cold, it sits alongside muhallabia and other Middle Eastern milk puddings. The toppings work either way.
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