The Rice Pudding
Rice pudding can be as simple as a milky risotto, and it’s a beautiful way to redirect the extra rice from a recent curry dinner. Gentle stovetop cooking makes for a creamy texture, which gets offset by the crunch of good pistachios and the tangy pop of pomegranate seeds.
Extra ingredient: cooked rice
Time: 30 minutes (30 minutes active)
Makes 4 servings
¼ teaspoon (a small pinch) saffron threads
1½ cups cooked rice, preferably basmati
3 tablespoons uncooked sweet rice (mochi gome)
2½ cups milk, plus more to serve
⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
⅓ cup sugar
½ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds, to serve
2 tablespoons chopped pistachios, to serve
1. In a small dry skillet, heat the saffron. Don’t go anywhere! You want to toast the saffron until it is dry and a shade darker than when it started and then pull it off the heat (a matter of 30 seconds to 1 minute). Dump the toasted saffron onto a small plate and crush it into a powder with the back of a spoon.
2. In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, whisk the saffron, cooked rice, uncooked sweet rice, milk, and cardamom. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, breaking up any lumps of rice with the whisk. Reduce the heat to a very low simmer, cover, and cook for 25 minutes, until thickened and smooth, stirring occasionally. Stir in the sugar and the cream and remove from the heat.
3. Serve warm like a sweet risotto or chill, stirring in a bit more milk to soften the texture if desired (the pudding will stiffen a bit when it is chilled). Top with the pomegranate seeds and pistachios.
VARIATIONS
- Change the grain. You can make this with cooked brown rice, barley, or farro, but the coloring will not be as bright and white.
- Change the flavor. Try a cinnamon stick and the zest of an orange in place of the saffron, or substitute 1 teaspoon of matcha powder for the saffron.
- Change the topping. If you make the cinnamon version, you might want to go with classic raisins on your rice pudding. If you choose matcha, top the green pudding with just the pistachios.