Sahlep (Turkish Hot Milk Drink with Cinnamon)

Ingredients

• 5 dl milk
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp rose water
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp pistachios, chopped

Method

1. 1.

   Slake the cornstarch cold — Whisk the cornstarch and sugar into 100 ml of the cold milk in a small bowl until there is not a single lump left. Starting cold is the whole trick — tip cornstarch into hot milk and you get lumps you can never whisk out.

2. 2.

   Infuse the milk with cinnamon — Pour the remaining milk into a small heavy saucepan with the cinnamon stick and the pinch of salt. Warm it over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until it steams and trembles at the edges but never boils.

3. 3.

   Thicken the drink — Pour the cold slurry into the hot milk in a thin stream, whisking the whole time. Keep whisking over medium-low heat for 6-7 minutes, until it thickens to the consistency of pouring cream and coats the back of a spoon in a layer you can draw a line through.

4. 4.

   Perfume with rose and vanilla — Take the pan off the heat, fish out the cinnamon stick and stir in the rose water and vanilla extract. Taste and add a little more sugar if you like it sweeter; the drink should be gently perfumed, not floral like soap.

5. 5.

   Dust and serve hot — Pour into two warmed mugs, dust the surface generously with ground cinnamon and scatter the chopped pistachios over. Drink it hot, with a spoon if it thickens further as it stands.