Simple Rice Pudding! It can’t be simpler than this – rice, milk, sugar, and vanilla (and a bit of lemon zest). A dessert that evokes my childhood memories!
Rice puddings are found in nearly every area of the world. Every country has it’s own recipe, and recipes can be different even within a single country. This dessert can be boiled or baked. I never try to bake it, which is very unusual, because I like to try out new recipes. Maybe because I like to eat it as I used to eat it when I was a kid.
Rice pudding, as well as Semolina pudding, is a dessert that evokes my childhood memories. There was no weekend where I didn’t beg my grandma to make me some, especially semolina pudding. I liked to eat it for breakfast, not as a dessert. Those were careless days… no problems, no stress, only playing in my mind. Where did time flew away?! Sigh!
Ok, back to this dessert. As I’ve written above, it only takes a few ingredients to make Rice pudding. Rice – you can use any kind of rice, I like short grain. As for the milk, classic cow milk is my favorite, but you can try with any kind of dairy or non-dairy milk. Spices – cinnamon (my favorite), cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, possibilities are endless. Sweetener – sugar, brown sugar, honey, syrups… And for the end flavorings and toppings – vanilla and lemon are what I use, but as well as with spices, possibilities are endless – orange, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, raisins (yuck! – hate raisins), fresh fruit, fruit syrups…
Simple Rice Pudding
Ingredients
- 400 ml milk (1 3/4 cup)
- 50 grams rice (1/4 cup)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zest peel optional
- to serve: cinnamon powder
Instructions
- Put all ingredients in a small saucepan.
- Bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Cook uncovered, on low heat, or whatever temperature gets you a nice and gentle simmer.
- Cook for 30-40 minutes, until the rice, is tender, and you get nice thick pudding. Stir occasionally with a whisk, on the bottom and around the edges of a saucepan.
- Remove from the heat, remove lemon zest peel (if using), cover and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Serve warm with cinnamon or any topping of your choice.
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