Experiencing with sachlav

My kosher Instagram feed was flowing lately with pictures and videos and recommendations about how to prepare an easy and tasty sachlav, the thick-milk based drink specific for Israel and the Middle East. It is the equivalent of the hot chocolate for Europe, with an interesting history available here. After getting hungry after so many readings and pictures, I have my own experience, adapting this very easy - as usual - and efficient recipe from Joy of Kosher. 

During a week, I tried various variants and alternatives.

The initial recipe recommends 3 cups - I tried with glasses of coconut milk, which inevitably means that the drink will maintain the unique taste of the coconut. If you use the normal milk, the other ingredients are melting together amazingly and it tastes even better. Probably you can also try other variants of ´milk` such as almond or soy, but I don't know for sure how does it matches in terms of taste.

For the sweet part, I used honey - the worst choice, as well as brown sugar - which is good, instead of the white. I also used a special variant of vanilla sugar - Bourbon sugar, which gives an elegant taste.
The initial recipe recommends rose water, but it is also possible to use orange water, but as for now, I kept this one, simply because I love rose water.
It is very easy to make and especially when using coconut milk, it stays warm for a long time. I always decorated my glass with pistachio. My variant was neutral, but if it is a bit salty, the contrast between too much sweetness - a feature specific to many Middle Eastern sweets, which I really love and cherish - and the pint of salt creates a pleasant effect.
The preparation time is of maximum 20 minutes.
This recipe serves two middle-size glasses of sachlav.

Ingredients:
3 glasses of coconut - or normal - milk
1 tablespoon sugar - both white and brown sugar are fine
1 teaspoon vanilla essence - or vanilla sugar or Bourbon vanilla sugar
2 tablespoon corn starch
1 pinch of sea salt
It is very important that you mix very well the ingredients. Sometimes, the canned coconut milk can be half-water, half 'milk', so before you add all the other ingredients, you should mix well in order to have a compact paste.

It is also important to mix well when you add the cornstarch to mix well with all the other ingredients. 

The mix should be heated at 150C until it starts to boil. I let it to boil for maximum 5-6 seconds and after I took it out and poured into glasses while warm. 

Serve it either warm or later on, as a cold thick pudding.

Bon Appetit!