This might sound new, but did you know that rice is a great ingredient for sweet dishes too? Can rice be even more versatile?
Rice pudding is a great recipe to enjoy since it’s easy and quick to make. It can be a filling dessert, but some pudding lovers even have it for breakfast, like an oatmeal bowl. While most people prefer it warm, right away from the stove on a winter day, many others love cold rice pudding during the hot season. Whether you're looking for some comfort food to hug your soul or something fresh to survive in the hot days of summer, you should totally try a bowl of this sweet and creamy rice.
Is this Manna Dew real? It certainly is!
Its creamy texture is obtained thanks to the magic of starch: the shorter the rice grain, the creamier the pudding. That's why white rice is preferred over brown rice. Additionally, we recommend you use regular uncooked rice for this recipe. Pre-cooked rice is fine, but if you let it absorb the liquid in the pot, you'll obtain a much richer and thicker consistency.
The other ingredient that will help you to get this dreamy softness is no other than the milk. Again, the fat percentage is crucial to the ending result. In case you want to go vegan or dairy-free, cashew and oat milks have proven to be just as perfect.
The extras are up to taste
This recipe is super simple because there are no secret ingredients: what makes rice pudding sweet is sugar, of course. Be it brown or white, that's up to you, and you can always try a bit while cooking to check if it satisfies your sweet tooth. Also, sometimes it’s impossible to imagine a sweet recipe without a soft vanilla taste in it. If you can, go for vanilla beans, since they concentrate more flavor and are more natural and healthier. If not, some vanilla extract will work wonderfully as well.
Other than that, you can also add some lemon or orange zest for a more citric and fresh feeling, or some ground cinnamon (also in sticks or grated) and nutmeg, if you lean towards the colder, more wintery side. Some people love adding gold raisins on top of their pudding bowls, too!
More complex versions of this pudding include egg yolks to help create texture, but that’s a totally skippable step since you run the risk of getting scrambled eggs and it’s not worthy at all.
Let's prepare this surprisingly easy rice pudding recipe. Once you have it, you won’t have it another way.
Ingredients (4-6 servings)
- 1 cup of white short grain rice.
- 4 cups of milk (the one of your choice).
- 2/3 cups of sugar.
- 2 cinnamon sticks.
- Lemon zest.
- 2 tbsp. of butter (optional).
- Some brown sugar for decoration.
Preparation
- Grab a saucepan and put in your milk, sugar, lemon zest and cinnamon sticks. You want the milk to acquire all these flavors before the rice comes in. Set your saucepan to medium heat until it reaches boiling point.
- Once the milk is just starting to boil, pour the rice gently and set heat to the lowest. You'll have to stir occasionally to avoid the rice from sticking to the bottom. You’ll eventually start noticing the mix gets thicker from one moment to the other.
- After some 45-50 minutes your rice should be ready, and milk should be all absorbed. Remember to eye-ball your quantities: if you feel your milk is too much, add some more rice. On the contrary, add some milk if your rice is undone but it has absorbed all the liquid.
- Turn off your stove and if you wish, add butter at this point. It will melt and you’ll have to stir a bit more until well combined: you’ll see your rice getting even creamier after this step.
- Let it sit for some time until it cools down a bit before serving. Don't forget to take your cinnamon sticks out.
- Divide in portions and add some brown sugar while your pudding is still warm so it caramelizes on top.
