Rice Pudding, Nora Style
Had another nightmare last night (yeah, yeah, what else is new?) and while it was disturbing and horrible and scary, the plus sides are that it had a lot less physical violence than the last few nights' nightmares and I woke up with a craving for rice pudding. Rice pudding, or Milchreis, is a staple children's and invalid's meal in the UK and Germany and the Netherlands, but my mother detested its consistency, and I think I made it all of twice in my life. While perusing recipes in cookbooks and online I concluded, first and foremost, that I needed more time to make it than was really possible at 9 in the morning when I needed breakfast. So I had scrambled eggs and mango, and cleaned the kitchen, and then started on the quest for rice pudding.
The next conclusion I came to was that it was not going to be easy to find a recipe that met my needs and my available ingredients, so I would have to make my own. And finally, I concluded that these recipes were all wayyyy too sweet, which means that if you are an insane sugar junkie (or pregnant and craving) you may want to follow my side notes, or just dump a bunch of sweetener of your choice in the recipe or later on your individual serving.
This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, and kitten-free. If you don't do eggs, I'm not sure how to adjust for that. If you don't do rice, why are you still reading this? That said, here's the recipe:
Rice Pudding, Nora Style
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup brown rice
- 1-1/2 cups water
- 2 eggs
- 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
- 1/2 cup almond milk (or oat, soy, hazelnut, rice, or cow)
- 1/2 cup raisins (I used golden sultanas)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (or sugar, or honey, or agave nectar) [standard recipes seem to call for 1/2 cup sweetener, so feel free to double or just add later in your bowl]
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (you can use almond extract too, but then I'd replace the cinnamon with 6 cardamom pods, slightly cracked)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
First, parboil the rice. Bring rice and water to a boil in a saucepan, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer away for 20-30 minutes. You want the rice to be soft, but not mushy. When the rice is done, pour into a strainer and let it sit to let all the water drip out.
Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). In a 2 liter (2 quart) glass baking dish, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in the coconut milk (shake the can first!), almond milk, raisins, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir in the drained rice.
Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. At the end, the pudding should still be wet on top. Remove from oven, stir again, and let sit for at least 15 minutes to finish up. Stir and serve as is, or add additional sweetener, cinnamon, nuts, bananas, or whathaveyou to top it off.
Serves 6-8 Noras (depending on whether it's breakfast or a snack).
I like to add a pat of butter on top when I microwave a portion the next day to warm it up but YMMV. This was nice for a snack, and I plan on having it for brekkers for the next few days. Enjoy!
The next conclusion I came to was that it was not going to be easy to find a recipe that met my needs and my available ingredients, so I would have to make my own. And finally, I concluded that these recipes were all wayyyy too sweet, which means that if you are an insane sugar junkie (or pregnant and craving) you may want to follow my side notes, or just dump a bunch of sweetener of your choice in the recipe or later on your individual serving.
This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, and kitten-free. If you don't do eggs, I'm not sure how to adjust for that. If you don't do rice, why are you still reading this? That said, here's the recipe:
Rice Pudding, Nora Style
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup brown rice
- 1-1/2 cups water
- 2 eggs
- 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
- 1/2 cup almond milk (or oat, soy, hazelnut, rice, or cow)
- 1/2 cup raisins (I used golden sultanas)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (or sugar, or honey, or agave nectar) [standard recipes seem to call for 1/2 cup sweetener, so feel free to double or just add later in your bowl]
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (you can use almond extract too, but then I'd replace the cinnamon with 6 cardamom pods, slightly cracked)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
First, parboil the rice. Bring rice and water to a boil in a saucepan, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer away for 20-30 minutes. You want the rice to be soft, but not mushy. When the rice is done, pour into a strainer and let it sit to let all the water drip out.
Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). In a 2 liter (2 quart) glass baking dish, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in the coconut milk (shake the can first!), almond milk, raisins, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir in the drained rice.
Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. At the end, the pudding should still be wet on top. Remove from oven, stir again, and let sit for at least 15 minutes to finish up. Stir and serve as is, or add additional sweetener, cinnamon, nuts, bananas, or whathaveyou to top it off.
Serves 6-8 Noras (depending on whether it's breakfast or a snack).
I like to add a pat of butter on top when I microwave a portion the next day to warm it up but YMMV. This was nice for a snack, and I plan on having it for brekkers for the next few days. Enjoy!