Christmas vermicelli

Aletria has a special place in the Portuguese Christmas dinner table. Much like rice pudding, this vermicelli pudding is a sweet, soothingly soft and creamy treat everybody loves. Aletria is made with thin pasta like vermicelli, angel hair or capellini.

Be careful while mixing with egg yolks.

Preparation time ;

15 min

Cooking  time ;

5 min

Vermicelli - 250 g

Milk - 2 L

Egg Yolks - 8

Salt - 1 pinch

Butter - 50 g

Sugar - 300 g

Lemon - 2

Cinnamon sticks - 1

Cinnamon powder - 

Way of doing:

In a saucepan, bring the milk with the cinnamon stick, the lemon peel, the butter and the pinch of salt to the heat. Meanwhile, break the vermicelli  by hand.

As soon as the milk begins to boil, add the broken vermicelli and stir, occasionally, with the wooden spoon. When the vermicelli is cooked add the sugar, stir, boil another 5 minutes and remove from heat.

In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with a fork and gradually add a few spoons of the vermicelli broth, stirring constantly (to avoid cooking the yolks).

Pour this mixture in the vermicelli, on wire, and stirring constantly. Bring it back to the fire to cook the egg yolks, but without letting it boil, stirring constantly. When you almost want to boil, immediately remove from heat. Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon peel and place on a platter or individual plates. Allow to cool slightly and decorate with powdered cinnamon designs