RICE PUDDING

The Vancouver 2010 Olympics is fast approaching, and the weather is not exactly cooperating.  It’s so mild you can walk outside in a t–shirt!

However, during the evening, it’s still quite nippy…enough to warrant a warming comfort food my daughters simply love.  They get all excited over puddings.  Warm rice pudding is their absolute favourite. 

I rummaged around my “rice bin”, which is simply a drawer filled with close to 100 pounds of practically 20 different varieties of rice.  I’ve got black rice, red rice, wild rice, Jasmine, Basmati, Brown, Semi-brown, glutinous, sushi rice and the list goes on. 

I thought how pretty it would be to make red rice pudding.  Or black rice pudding.  Then I reminded myself that for my 6 year old and 3 year old, refined white rice would probably be much more appreciated.  I know, I know.  Bad mommy.  I should be thinking of their fibre intake and all the extra nutrients in the other rices.  Perhaps another day. 

This Rice Pudding is pretty traditional and straight forward.  No egg yolks, no separate custard or pastry cream to mix into the concoction.  All the ingredients will be in your pantry.

We prefer to eat our Rice Pudding slightly warm because cold rice is just yucky in texture. It’s kind of crunchy if it’s too cold.  So we just nuke it in the microwave for a few seconds before serving and if it’s too thick, we thin it with some milk. 

For my serving of pudding, I added cardamom pods.  They would inevitably say “Mommy, what’s that green stuff in the pudding? is it a vegetable?” 

Horrors. 

So I always split my desserts before serving and add the neat-o flavour enhancers to my portions.  Everybody’s happy.

RICE PUDDING

• 1/2 cup short-grain or medium-grain white rice ( I used Kokuho brand sushi rice)
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• 3 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup organic evaporated cane sugar
• 5 cardamom pods, split (optional)

1. Rinse the rice under water 3 times until clear.  Place rice in a large heavy saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat and drain with a sieve.
2. Return the rice to the pan.  Add milk, cream and cardamom pods, if using.
3. Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally with a heat-proof rubber spatula to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Stir in vanilla extract.  Stir in sugar and simmer for 10 more minutes.  Pour the rice pudding into a small serving container, discarding cardamom pods (if used).
5. Serve warm or refrigerate for later.   If you need to warm up the pudding,  spoon out individual portions and microwave for a few seconds to warm through.  Stir in a little milk if it’s too thick.