Rice Pudding
When I was little I used to have a Peruvian nanny that looked after me. She introduced me to many dishes from her hometown- which obviously, I don’t remember the names or even the look of them, but the flavour memory remains. One of the dishes she used to make me was rice pudding. Always served warm, with milk, cinnamon and a hint of citrus. It had been probably 10+ years that I didn’t have her rice pudding before I made this recipe and after tasting it, it brought me back to hers.
I don’t drink milk or use cream in my cooking as I am lactose intolerant, so I replaced it with a dairy-free alternative, mostly oat or coconut as they have shown to be the creamiest alts. You could obviously also use normal sugar, but using coconut sugar gives it another extra hidden layer of flavour.
This is one of my favourite sweet dishes to make since it’s really not that bad for you. I have it for brekkie, as a snack or as dessert. The amount of sugar doesn’t make it super sweet (if you have a sweet tooth maybe add a tiny bit more) and the rest of the ingredients make it creamy and decadent without having to add all kinds of processed funky ingredients. Making this could not be more simple - dump everything in a pot and 30-40 minutes later, all done.
Prep/cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Serves: 5-6 people
Ingredients
1 cup short-grain rice
4 cups (890ml) dairy or dairy-free milk
⅓ cup coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ cinnamon stick
8 whole cardamom pods, crushed
5 cloves
Zest of ¼ of a lemon
Zest of ¼ of an orange
⅔ (130ml) cup water
dairy or dairy free milk, to serve
Method
Add everything into a pot, stir to combine.
Bring the mixture to a boil, cover with a lid, and let simmer, stirring occasionally on the lowest heat for 30-40 minutes, or until rice becomes super soft. Serve hot or cold with a dusting of cinnamon and some extra milk if you want.
Store rice pudding in the fridge for up to 4 days.