I recall my mothers’ rice pudding with much fondness. It was a creamy pudding with raisins and a nice cinnamon flavor. Although, as a kid, raisins didn’t really appeal to me they seemed to belong in this pudding. My father was a ‘meat and potatoes’ kind of man with an inherited love of sweets. I rarely ever remember my mother preparing a meal that didn’t end with some kind of dessert. It didn’t have to be anything elaborate. To this day, I still think a meal isn’t complete without a little sweetness at the end. Not a good thing as we get older.
Rice puddings are found in nearly every corner of the world. Recipes can greatly vary even within a single country. The dessert can be boiled or baked. Different types of the pudding vary depending on preparation and the ingredients selected.
With its abundance of rice and spices in Asia, it is likely that rice pudding was originally created in Persia, India or China. Eventually it made its way to Europe where recipes for baked rice puddings began to appear around the 17th century.
Milchreis is the German version, made by cooking short grain rice on the stove top in milk with sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. A popular accompaniment to rice pudding in Germany has been cherries in juice.
Due to the mildness of this pudding you can change the flavor significantly by making a few changes such as: nutmeg or cardamom instead of cinnamon – adding dried fruits such as cranberries, apples or peaches – adding nuts such as walnuts, pecans or almonds – use almond milk instead of regular milk. No matter which way you choose to make it, if you like rice, you will love that homey goodness.
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- 1 cup short grain white rice
- 1/4-1/3 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 4 cups milk OR 3 cups milk + 1 cup cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- cinnamon to taste
- 1/2 cup raisins
Ingredients
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- In a large saucepan, combine rice, sugar & salt. Stir in milk & vanilla.
- Place mixture over medium heat & bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat; simmer for 15 minutes. Add raisins; continue cooking while stirring, 15 minutes more, or until the rice is soft & the milk becomes thick. Serve warm with cinnamon.
- I saw an interesting recipe on paddockpost.com for Almond Milk Rice Pudding you might enjoy reading. Go to the website above & click on recipes. It was a blog from November 1/2016.