April’s Home and Garden

Here is the rice pudding recipe I promised. This is my adaptation of a recipe from Alton Brown that I found on foodnetwork.com.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon very finely minced fresh ginger root
3/4-1 cup cooked long grain or basmati rice
1 cup 2% milk (or whole milk)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

In a large saute pan over medium heat, (The original recipe recommended a non stick pan, but I use my Calphalon skillet, and it works out just fine. I haven’t personally tested it with other types of pans). combine the cooked rice, ginger root, and milk. Heat until the mixture begins to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to thicken,  approximately 5 minutes.

Increase the heat to medium, thoroughly whisk in cream, coconut milk, sugar, and cardamom and continue to cook until the mixture begins to thicken again, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Once the mixture just begins to thicken. Remove from the heat .

Transfer the mixture to individual serving dishes or a glass bowl–I like to use a ladle for this to get most of the pudding  out of the pan, then I scrape the rest out into the bowls. My skillet is large and heavy so this is easier.

Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding and refrigerate. The plastic wrap keeps the pudding from getting a skin. You can serve it chilled or at room temperature, I like it best warm right after I make it. You could also grate some cinnamon over the top when serving.

Notes:
With 3/4 of a cup of rice you get a nice ratio of pudding to rice, while 1 cup (what the recipe originally called for) really packs the pudding with rice and well, it’s a little less pudding like.

I made the pudding once with 2% milk because it was what I had on hand, It gave it a lighter taste without affecting the flavor since the coconut milk and cream are both very rich.

You could substitute dried ginger for the fresh, but it really won’t have the same flavor. If you do this I recommend 1/4 tsp. added at the second step.

I came up with another really nice variation where I added 2 tsp. each of brewed jasmine green tea, and fresh lime juice during the second addition of ingredients. It really brought out all the flavors of the spices and the coconut milk in a really wonderful way! I think I’ll be making it like this from now on. I also thought of using orange instead of lime, I’ll get back to you on that when I try it.  I hope you like this recipe and enjoy your pudding!