by Paul Cormier, Salamanders of Kemptville
It’s hard to understand why some recipes have a bad rap. Such is the case with the humble Rice Pudding; and yet, it is so versatile and tasty that it should be in the recipe book of all you folks looking for an inexpensive and nutritious dessert. Plus, you can do a lot of interesting things with it. So, today’s recipe is Rice Pudding Plus.
Rice Pudding Plus
Ingredients
1 ½ cup of cooked rice
½ cup of white granulated sugar
1 tablespoon of corn starch
2 ½ cups of milk
2 egg yolks (hang on to the whites in case you want to use them)
1 tablespoon of vanilla
Preparation
Preheat your oven to 350F
Mix together the sugar and cornstarch
Add the milk, egg yolks and vanilla and mix till very smooth
Stir in the rice and pour into an oven-proof dish
Then, place the dish in a 9 inch baking pan
Pour about an inch of water in the pan to surround the dish with the pudding
Bake for about 1 ½ hour; stir every 15 minutes or so.
Remove from the oven and serve hot or refrigerate and let cool.
Ok, so where does the Plus come in? Well, Ma Cormier used to add a half cup of raisins, which she had brought to a boil in a ½ cup water with a tablespoon of Triple Sec. Once she drained the raisins, she would add them to the pudding at the last minute before baking. If you are in a festive mood, you could use craisins instead. As for spices, a half teaspoon of nutmeg or cinnamon work well when you mix the dry ingredients together. Also, these days, there are different flavours of rice, so you could try some Basmati or some Jasmine (but probably not glutinous). In addition to, or instead of, the vanilla, you could add some rum or almond extract. Finally, you can serve your Rice Pudding, however you make it, in fruit nappies and top it with whipped cream, meringue or those egg whites you kept, beaten with two tablespoons of sugar.
If you have a favourite Rice Pudding recipe, please share it with pcormier@ranaprocess.com.
