AI-generated image
Lab-e-shireen
لبِ شیریں (lab-e-shireen): Eid's chilled custard with fruit, vermicelli, cream and jewel-like jelly
The name means "sweet lips", and on Eid-ul-Fitr afternoons in Karachi and Lahore a glass bowl of it sits in nearly every fridge, waiting for guests who move from house to house. It is a cold, pourable vanilla custard folded through with toasted vermicelli, cubes of red and green jelly, banana, apple, grapes and tinned fruit, finished with cream and sometimes a scatter of nuts. Shop jelly is made with gelatine, so this version sets fruit juice with agar, which also holds up better at room temperature on a crowded table. A lot of cooks get the custard too thick, so once it chills it turns stiff and cannot coat the fruit. Chef's tip: make the jelly and the custard the night before, and stir in the fruit and cream only an hour or two before serving so the bananas stay pale and the vermicelli keeps a little bite.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the agar jelly
- 1 cup apple juice
- 2 tsp agar powder
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 drop green food colour (optional)
For the custard
- 4 ¼ cups whole milk
- 4 tbsp vanilla custard powder
- 3 ½ oz sugar
- 1 ¾ oz fine wheat vermicelli (seviyan)broken into 3 cm pieces
- 1 tsp ghee or butter
To fold in
- 2 bananassliced
- 1 applecored and diced
- 5 ½ oz seedless grapeshalved
- 14 oz tinned fruit cocktail1 tin, drained
- ¾ cup single cream
- 2 tbsp pistachios (optional)chopped
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (5)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/11 doneStep 1: Whisk 1 cup red fruit juice (pomegranate or cherry) with half of 1 tsp agar powder and half of 1 tbsp sugar in a small pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring, until the agar has fully dissolved.
3 minStep 2: Pour into a small greased tub to a depth of about 1.5 cm.
Step 3: Repeat with 1 cup apple juice, the rest of 1 tsp agar powder and 1 tbsp sugar, adding 1 drop green food colour, and pour into a second tub. Leave both to set, about 30 minutes at room temperature, then chill.
3 minStep 4: Fry 1 ¾ oz fine wheat vermicelli (seviyan) in 1 tsp ghee or butter in a large pan over a medium heat for 2–3 minutes until golden.
3 minStep 5: Mix 4 tbsp vanilla custard powder to a smooth paste with 100 ml of ½ cup whole milk.
Step 6: Add the rest of 3 ¾ cups whole milk and 3 ½ oz sugar to the vermicelli, bring to a simmer and cook for 4–5 minutes until the vermicelli is soft.
6 minStep 7: Stir in the custard paste and keep stirring over a low heat for 2 minutes until the custard just coats the back of a spoon; it should still pour easily.
2 minStep 8: Pour into a serving bowl, press cling film onto the surface and cool, then chill for at least 3 hours.
Step 9: Cut the jellies into 1.5 cm cubes.
Step 10: Stir ¾ cup single cream into the cold custard, then fold in 2 bananas, 1 apple, 5 ½ oz seedless grapes, 14 oz tinned fruit cocktail and most of the jelly cubes.
Step 11: Top with the remaining jelly and 2 tbsp pistachios and serve cold.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 340 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 50 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does lab-e-shireen take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of whole milk?
- Semi-skimmed milk with 1 tbsp cream per 240ml (1 cup).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Baklava
The famous layered pastry: crisp sheets of buttered fillo sandwich a filling of almonds, pistachios and cashews spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. After baking, the hot baklava is soaked in a syrup of sugar, honey, lemon, rose and cardamom and decorated with almond and pistachio flakes. Cut into 40 diamonds; serve with fresh cream or ice cream.
Undu walalu
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan
Marquesitas
Evening in Mérida's Plaza Grande means the smell of marquesitas: thin batter pressed in hot hinged irons until crisp, then rolled like a cigar around grated Edam cheese and a sweet filling such as cajeta, chocolate-hazelnut spread or jam. Edam came to the Yucatán through the port trade with the Netherlands and became part of the local cooking, and the salty-sweet combination is the whole point. At home you can cook them in a thin, wide frying pan. Edam is usually made with animal rennet, so check the label or use a vegetarian Gouda-style cheese. Chef's tip: roll while the crêpe is still in the pan and hot; within seconds it hardens and will crack.
Mexican