JUDITH AISTHORPE

ONE of the world’s most widely eaten sweet dishes has been given a Territory twist by Fidaa Saleh. Ms Saleh, who owns Rice Pudding Plus, makes cheesecakes from the rice pudding and has flavour combinations like mango, salted caramel and biscuit crumble.

Her inspiration for the inventive desserts came to her while she was pregnant with twins.

A craving for cheesecake, but a fear of eating a cheese based product while pregnant prompted her to come up with a recipe for a rice pudding cheesecake.

“They are made from a biscuit base … and the filling is a special rice pudding filling,” she said.

She said she began making more and sharing it with her family who help her come up with and trial new flavour combinations.

“I always experiment on my husband as he’s got an honest opinion. And my little ones — if a child likes it you’ll know,” she said.

As well as serving up rice pudding cheesecakes, she also sells the dish as a traditional pudding.

The creamy flavour typically enjoyed from the dessert has been given a shake-up with Ms Saleh adding a range of flavourings.

She currently has ten flavours to choose from and include pistachio, peanut butter, mango chocolate, coconut, cinnamon biscuit and a sugar option made with mixed nuts and dried fruit with honey on top.

One of her most popular options is a salted caramel.

Ms Saleh started the business in September last year and runs it from home. It’s a long task to make a batch of rice pudding with the whole process taking about four hours.

She said one of the perks of the dish was that it was often a far healthier option to other sweets.

She can also make the pudding with any liquid, be it milk, almond milk or coconut milk.

As well as selling rice pudding Ms Saleh make a whole range of cakes.

She hopes to expand in the future and begin selling her product in shops around Darwin.

It can currently be bought directly from her, through her Facebook page Rice Pudding Plus or at the Waterfront Minimart.