Want to bring the little kid out of you? Try Sultac

Yesterday was Eid, but for my Aunt Salma in Dar-es-salam and my friend Ameen in India, today is their Eid.

To me, from an early age Eid was all about eating and sharing. When we were little my mother who was Muslim celebrated Eid so big. On any Eid, She would make hundreds of samosas, sulu wai wai (small Nubian donuts), mandazis, pilau and all those delicious things you find on an Arab menu card. And she would call all the kids from the neighborhood to eat with us and we would play games, run around..., it is all memory of lots of fun and children screaming and all that. Thinking about those days, makes me wish I could become a kid again.

Well, every Eid I try to make something special even though just for myself and this Eid I thought to get that little kid out of me and enjoy innocence once again, I could make Sultac and share with whoever I could think of around me.

Sultac is an Arabian Rice pudding very common among the Turkish. The last time I tried to make Sultac, I actually just watched my mum make it so am just refreshing my memory as I try out this recipe

For my Sultac I needed;

• 4.5 cups milk
• 1.5 cups of water (you can use your confortable ration of rice to water to have a well cooked rice)
• ½ cup rice
• 1 tbsp of corn starch, since I had not cornstarch, I substituted with 2 tbsps of all rice flour but you can use 2 of all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• ½ tsp of cinnamon
• Some dry fruits (mix of dates, prunes and any other you can get)

How did I go about it?

• I washed the rice and put it in a pan with the water.
• Cooked the rice until the water was gone, I was careful enough not to burn it
• Just before the water was gone, I poured in 4 glasses of milk.
• Stirred until it came to a boil and then added the sugar
• I then took the remaining half glass of milk and stirred it together with
• the rice flour
• I kept it boiling until it thickened.
• turned off the heat and added the vanilla.
• I put it into individual bowls and chilled in the fridge until ready to be served.
• I sprinkled my cinnamon and dry fruit on top

Try this at home and you will bring out the little kid in you

If you have left over rice, you could use that instead of boiling rice afresh just remember to use rice boiled without salt.

Sultac the Arabian rice pudding made the Indian way is called Kheer and there is almost no difference in the ingredients and directions.

Remember Eid is about sharing so follow this recipe to serve 10

Eid Mubarak!!!