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Raib (set yogurt with orange-flower water)
Raib: softly set, lightly sweet yogurt in little pots, scented with orange-flower water
Every Moroccan town has a mahlaba, a dairy café, with a fridge full of little glass pots of raib: soft, wobbly set yogurt, lightly sweetened and often scented with orange-flower water or flavoured with strawberry. It is eaten with a spoon as a snack, as a dessert after dinner, or with msemen at breakfast. The texture is delicate and spoonable rather than thick like strained yogurt. The oldest versions were set with rennet; this home version uses live yogurt as a starter (if you try rennet tablets, choose a vegetarian one). It needs 6–8 hours to set and a few hours to chill. Chef's tip: let the milk cool to 43 °C before adding the starter; too hot and the cultures die, so the raib never sets, which is the most common mistake.
- Total time
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 4 ¼ cups pasteurised whole milk
- 2 ⅛ oz sugar
- 2 tbsp plain yogurt with live culturesat room temperature
- 2 tbsp orange-flower water
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Heat 4 ¼ cups pasteurised whole milk and 2 ⅛ oz sugar in a heavy saucepan over a medium heat, stirring, until it reaches 85–194°F and is steaming with small bubbles at the edges. Keep it there for 5 minutes, stirring; this gives a firmer set.
12 minStep 2: Take off the heat and leave to cool to 109°F, comfortably hot on your finger. You can speed it up by standing the pan in a sink of cold water.
20 minStep 3: Whisk 2 tbsp plain yogurt with live cultures with a ladle of the warm milk until smooth, then stir it back into the pan with 2 tbsp orange-flower water.
Step 4: Pour into 6 small glass pots or jars, cover and keep warm and undisturbed at about 40–109°F, in an oven with only the light on or wrapped in a blanket, until set and it wobbles as one piece when tilted.
420 minStep 5: Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Eat within 5 days.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 150 kcal
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbs
- 18 g
- Fat
- 6 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does raib (set yogurt with orange-flower water) take?
- About 30 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- 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 pasteurised whole milk?
- Semi-skimmed milk with 1 tbsp cream per 240ml (1 cup).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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