Rice is one of the most famous, versatile, and delicious foods known. Everywhere you go, you will surely find a vast number of rice dishes and ancestral recipes. Not only does its long history and cultural influence make it as important as it is, but also its ease of cooking and mixing with other ingredients.
Rice can be cooked with almost anything you can think of, from a simple cooked white rice, which many enjoy, to dishes of such complex elaboration yet very delicious like paellas and risottos. Rice is, indeed, an ingredient for all types of people and palates, no matter what social class, race, or religion you identify with, you have tried rice before, and let’s be honest, you liked it.
History books teach that rice has experienced a long journey and evolution throughout many centuries. Many dishes have been created using rice as the main ingredient in their recipes and have been spread all around the world, so it’s not surprising rice-based meals can be found in any country.
Among the endless rice recipes that exist, one of the most popular ones is rice pudding. It is a very simple recipe that almost everyone knows or, at least, has tried before. Full of sweetness, flavor, and with a huge cultural weight, rice pudding can evoke memories of anyone’s childhood, as it was every grandma’s favorite dessert.
A Dessert Everyone Can Enjoy
No one can say for sure where rice pudding comes from, some people say it comes from Asia and others affirm that it is originally from Spain, and that is why it arrived to American lands. Truth be told, rice pudding is a dish that any person from any country can enjoy, and of course, each region in the world has its own way of making it.
Part of the charm of rice pudding is that you don’t need to be an expert to successfully make it. If you know how to make the basic cooked white rice, you’re pretty much ready to try making this marvelous dish.
How to Make the Perfect Rice Pudding
Before telling you how to correctly prepare rice pudding it is important for you to know that there are so many subtle variations to this dish, each as good as the others.
Here you will find the best white rice recipes for the classic homemade creamy version of rice pudding: https://carolinarice.com/cooking/how-to-make-the-perfect-rice-pudding/. However, you probably already know there are many other variations using different types of rice and a variety of ingredients. Two of them are presented below.
Try these recipes at home and enjoy them with your loved ones!
Homemade Rice Pudding
Ingredients:
- 1 cinnamon stick.
- 1 cup of water.
- Ground cinnamon.
- 1 lemon peel.
- 1 ½ cup of white rice.
- Condensed milk.
- Vanilla to taste.
- ¾ cup of sugar.
- 4 cups of milk.
Preparation:
- Pour the water in a pot and add the rice. Heat over the stove at medium heat, stirring frequently. When the water starts to boil, add the milk, the vanilla essence, the cinnamon stick, and the lemon peel.
- When the milk boils, reduce the intensity of the fire.
- Check the texture of the rice, which should be cooked until the liquid decreases considerably but not completely.
- Now add the sugar and mix thoroughly.
- You must leave the preparation for 5 more minutes. Once cooked and with a creamy consistency, you can serve.
- This dessert can be enjoyed both hot and cold. Adding condensed milk on top and sprinkling some cinnamon will give this rice pudding a touch of softness and extra flavor.
Coconut Rice Pudding
Another thing you can do with pudding rice is to add other types of milk to the recipe. For instance, coconut milk.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups of water.
- 1 cup of rice.
- ½ cup of liquid milk.
- 1 can of condensed milk.
- 1 cup of coconut milk.
- 1 cup of sugar.
- 3 cinnamon sticks.
- 4 sweet cloves.
Preparation:
- In a pot large enough, put the water with the cinnamon and sweet cloves over medium heat.
- When it boils, add the sugar and the cup of rice.
- When the rice is soft, add the liquid milk, coconut milk, and the condensed milk, and when it reduces a little bit, turn it off.
- Refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours and enjoy.