I am absolute rubbish at making rice pudding and it would seem that Diana Henry is too, she admits as much in her new book Cook Simple. So I suppose I can take some small comfort from the knowledge that I am not the only one. Mr. P loves rice pudding, I do too, though my eyes don't light up likes his at the mention of it! So when Diana Henry said she now does it on the stove-top and that it's a doddle, and quicker to make than the oven-baked version ... well that was enough for me to give it a try.
Diana's recipe is for chilled rice pudding with an orange, honey and cardamom syrup topping. I decided to just go for the rice pudding and see how it turns out, I can do the fancier stuff another time if the pudding itself is good. So I followed her recipe more or less to the letter but added some ground nutmeg for extra taste. She stirs in a little Greek yogurt but I left that out.
So if you are rubbish at rice pudding maybe this is for you too. In the end I didn't chill the pudding as it was still quite warm in the pot even two hours after making it. It had firmed up quite a bit but was still lusciously creamy. So I spooned it out into bowls and we ate it with just a little extra cream poured over the top .... delicious! Mr. P literally scraped his bowl clean, so I reckon this has earned me quite a few brownie points which is never a bad thing.
Purists may gasp but believe me if you can't get a baked one right then this is the next best thing. I did try to take a photo but have you ever tried taking one of white rice pudding in a white bowl !!!
Chilled Rice Pudding - Serves 4
150g short-grain rice
900ml full-fat milk
35g sugar
50ml thick double cream
a couple of drops vanilla extract
a grind of nutmeg
Put the rice in a saucepan and cover it with water. Boil for 4 minutes, then drain. Put the rice back in the pan with the milk and sugar and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is soft. You need to stir from time to time and add a little more milk if you find it has been absorbed before the rice is done.
Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the cream, vanilla extract, and grind over some nutmeg. Leave to cool, then chill. When chilled the pudding will be very firm, so you can loosen it by stirring in more cream if you like.
Cook's note: I didn't need to add any more milk but I did need to let the rice simmer for the full 30 minutes. By this time it was beautifully soft and the milk was just about absorbed.
Diana's recipe is for chilled rice pudding with an orange, honey and cardamom syrup topping. I decided to just go for the rice pudding and see how it turns out, I can do the fancier stuff another time if the pudding itself is good. So I followed her recipe more or less to the letter but added some ground nutmeg for extra taste. She stirs in a little Greek yogurt but I left that out.
So if you are rubbish at rice pudding maybe this is for you too. In the end I didn't chill the pudding as it was still quite warm in the pot even two hours after making it. It had firmed up quite a bit but was still lusciously creamy. So I spooned it out into bowls and we ate it with just a little extra cream poured over the top .... delicious! Mr. P literally scraped his bowl clean, so I reckon this has earned me quite a few brownie points which is never a bad thing.
Purists may gasp but believe me if you can't get a baked one right then this is the next best thing. I did try to take a photo but have you ever tried taking one of white rice pudding in a white bowl !!!
Chilled Rice Pudding - Serves 4
150g short-grain rice
900ml full-fat milk
35g sugar
50ml thick double cream
a couple of drops vanilla extract
a grind of nutmeg
Put the rice in a saucepan and cover it with water. Boil for 4 minutes, then drain. Put the rice back in the pan with the milk and sugar and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is soft. You need to stir from time to time and add a little more milk if you find it has been absorbed before the rice is done.
Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the cream, vanilla extract, and grind over some nutmeg. Leave to cool, then chill. When chilled the pudding will be very firm, so you can loosen it by stirring in more cream if you like.
Cook's note: I didn't need to add any more milk but I did need to let the rice simmer for the full 30 minutes. By this time it was beautifully soft and the milk was just about absorbed.
7 comments:
Great Blog Pi! I recently discovered that I liked rice pudding! Well to be truthful I had never tried it as I thought it wouldn't be good. Was I wrong!!! I have been trying my hand at making it without too much success so I think your version sounds nice and easy for me. YUM! Thanks for the recipe Pi!
jenvdk
LOL when I first glanced at this I thought it said "Chilli Rice Pudding" and I thought "ugh, fusion gone wrong!" When I looked again it seemed a lot more appetising...
Glad that you like this method, I never hear of rice pudding cook in the oven, I always have done it on the stove top flavored with either cinnamon or lemon peel.
Viviana
Mmmmm! I'm with Mr P - that's one of my top-3 favourite puddings too! That does sound a nice way to cook it - and quicker than baking it too.
I really like rice pudding but have never had much success with cooking it. Your recipe sounds really good so thanks very much for posting it.
With or without a photo - I´m drooling :)
Thank you for your comments everybody. For a first try I was very pleased with the outcome and will be using this basic method in future playing around with flavourings and toppings. I will also try stirring through a couple of tablespoons of Greek yogurt together with the cream as Diana Henry suggests.
pi xxx
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