Malabi

Malabi is a silky, chilled milk pudding thickened with cornstarch, scattered with chopped pistachios and drizzled with rose water syrup. Rosewater-and-milk puddings like it appear across the territory once covered by the Ottoman Empire under various names, but the specific version served cold in a cup, topped with pistachios and syrup, became a fixture of Israeli street food and beach kiosks, sold alongside the country's other cold snacks.

What it really is

Milk simmers with cornstarch and sugar, stirred constantly, until it thickens into a smooth, custard-like pudding without the aid of egg — cornstarch alone provides the body here, which is what gives malabi its distinctively silky, almost gelatinous set once fully chilled. It pours into individual cups and chills until firm, then finishes just before serving with a drizzle of rose water or fruit syrup and a scatter of chopped pistachios, sometimes with shredded coconut as well.

The rose water is a defining flavour, not a background note. Malabi's floral, perfumed character comes specifically from that rose water syrup — a version made without it, syrup swapped for a plain sugar one, loses the specific character that separates malabi from a generic vanilla pudding.

How it's served

• Cold, in an individual cup, syrup and nuts added just before eating.
• As a dessert or sweet street food snack, especially popular in warmer weather.
• Sometimes with coconut shreds added alongside the pistachios.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the dairy and the pistachios.
• It's naturally vegetarian.
• Say what syrup is used if it's not the classic rose water, since fruit syrups are a common but different variation.