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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
7 min
19/01/2026
Sampling a pudding is like donning a dress. The fabrics (aesthetics), styles (ingredients) and designs (flavours) change with the country they are associated with, but the overall appeal remains the same. That’s how puddings around the world exist, incorporating regional flavours and offering a taste of the local culture. From dairy farms, temples to accidental inventions, puddings have come a long way from their origin as a simple dish of grains, fruits, and nuts called Ashure or Noah’s pudding.
Since its inception as a simple dessert, puddings have undergone multiple transformations. Dairy, fancy moulds and utensils reshaped the dessert, and its popularity continued to soar. Across cultures, puddings take wildly different forms, like the Turkish tavuk göğsü made with milk and shredded chicken and Iranian saffron‑spiced rice pudding sholeh zard. In fact, within the Indian subcontinent itself, variations exist like kheer and phirni. From the beloved Italian version to the Thailand’s sticky mango rice pudding, discover delicious puddings from around the world.
Perhaps the most unusual one on this list, tavuk göğsü, is a milk pudding made with shredded chicken breast. As icky or fascinating as that might sound, it was something enjoyed by the Ottoman sultans in the Topkapı Palace. What’s fascinating about this pudding is that one bite of it barely reveals that it has chicken in it; you get the mouthfeel of a thick rice or milk pudding with the flavour of cinnamon and vanilla. If you trace its roots, this pudding is inspired by the French blancmange, which looks a lot like the Italian panna cotta.
The name literally means cooked cream, where the dish is made with whole cream, sugar, vanilla, and gelatin. It has a plain, milky taste, and the most endearing part of the dessert is its subtle jiggle. It’s an effortless dessert as panna cotta requires no baking or any complicated steps. The world might like to add sauces and other flavourings, but the authentic Italian version, especially the classic Piedmontese panna cotta, is served on its own or with a biscotti. Some parts of Italy also like to sneak in dessert wines into the mix and serve them up with berry coulis or caramel sauce.
Made with fragrant ground rice, phirni is a slow-cooked Indian pudding which uses milk, sugar, nuts, saffron, cardamom powder or rose water. They are traditionally served in earthen vessels called shikoras and matkas, which tend to absorb any extra moisture from the dessert. It’s quite different from kheer, another Indian rice pudding, which uses whole rice, not ground. Phirni is always enjoyed thick and chilled, with the lingering aroma of spices and rose water. Phirni is believed to have roots in Persia, given its name, and was popularised in India under the Mughal rule.
Another milk-based dessert from Turkey, muhallebi, is quite popular around the Middle East, Northern Africa and the Mediterranean. It is almost similar to phirni, also served chilled, made with ground rice, milk, cornstarch, or semolina, with flavours derived from rosewater, orange blossom water, or mastic (a local gum). This dessert has a strong connection with the Arab and Ottoman cuisine, with variations existing under different names. It’s called mahalabia in Egypt, malabi in Israel, and mahalabiyeh in Lebanon, with different flavours used in them.
One of the oldest Indian desserts, kheer’s origin is highly debated, with most accounts pointing to it originating as a temple prasad, around 2000 years ago at the Lord Jagannath Temple in Odisha. It is served in most households on almost every special occasion, from weddings and birthdays to festive celebrations. It’s primarily made with rice, vermicelli or tapioca cooked in milk with sugar, fruits and nuts. It’s usually flavoured with spices like cardamom and saffron, with different regions adding their own twists (nuts fried in ghee, jaggery instead of sugar, etc.).
Perhaps the ultimate Persian rice pudding, sholeh zard, is an Iranian (modern-day Persia) dessert, served at special occasions. Its name translates to ‘yellow flame’, a reference to the bright hue of the dessert thanks to the use of saffron, one of the most prized spices in Persian cuisine. The pudding is made by simmering rice until it becomes soft and creamy. Then sugar is added, followed by the infusion of saffron, rosewater, and cardamom. The smooth, custard-like pudding is traditionally poured into shallow dishes and decorated with cinnamon, slivered almonds, and pistachios.
Umm Ali (also spelt Om Ali) is a beloved Egyptian‑style bread pudding with an interesting albeit scandalous story behind it. The name literally means ‘Ali’s Mother’ and, according to local Egyptian lore, Umm Ali, the first wife of Sultan Aybak, sought revenge against his second wife, Shajar al-Durr (a brutal assassination was planned), after her husband’s death. To celebrate her victory, she commissioned a rich dessert made with pastry, milk, and nuts, which was then shared widely and named ‘Umm Ali’ in her honour. Although other versions of its origins exist, this one’s certainly the spiciest!
A traditional sweet grain pudding, kutia is enjoyed across Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, and Russia, most commonly served as part of a twelve‑dish Christmas Eve supper in Eastern Europe. It’s made with wheat berries, poppy seeds, honey or sugar, nuts, raisins, and sometimes berries, creating a sticky, sweet texture that bridges porridge and dessert. In some regions, small bowls of kutia are placed outdoors before eating as a symbolic gesture to Father Frost. Grains thrown against the ceiling are thought to predict next year’s agricultural prosperity.
Thailand’s most famous dessert is khao niao mamuang, commonly known as mango sticky rice. It consists of glutinous rice cooked until tender and soaked in sweetened coconut milk, then paired with slices of ripe mango. It’s especially popular during the mango season from March to May, when sweet varieties like nam dok mai and oak rong are at their peak. Often garnished with extra coconut cream and sometimes toasted sesame seeds, this dish appears at street food stalls and festivals throughout Thailand. It even ranks among the world’s most beloved puddings on TasteAtlas’ list.
The world has its ways of adapting something as simple as pudding using local specialities or beloved ingredients like rice or dairy, and coming up with creative puddings which have fed and nourished generations. While the list of puddings is endless, the aforementioned puddings are some of the most unique ones that deserve the spotlight.
