Here’s a pre-loved blog entry that might educate, entertain and make you crave that most ancient of desserts – rice pudding.
Rice puddings are found in nearly every area of the world. Recipes can greatly vary even within a single country. The dessert can be boiled or baked. Different types of pudding vary depending on preparation methods and the ingredients selected.
Here’s a pre-loved blog entry that might educate, entertain and make you crave that most ancient of desserts – rice pudding.
Rice puddings are found in nearly every area of the world. Recipes can greatly vary even within a single country. The dessert can be boiled or baked. Different types of pudding vary depending on preparation methods and the ingredients selected. The following ingredients are regularly found in rice puddings.
rice – long/short grain white rice, brown rice, black rice, basmati, or jasmine rice
milk – (whole milk, coconut milk, cream or evaporated)
spices – (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger etc.)
flavourings – (vanilla, orange, lemon, pistachio, rose water etc.)
sweetener – (sugars, honey, sweetened condensed milk, fruit or syrups)
The following is a short list of various rice puddings from different regions.
East Asia
Kao Niow Dahm (Thai) Black Rice Pudding,
Banana Rice Pudding (Cambodian),
Babao Fan (Chinese) Eight Treasure Rice Pudding,
Pulut Hitam (Malaysian) Black glutinous rice pudding,
South Asia
Kheer (Pakistani/Indian) with slow-boiled milk,
Firni (Pakistani/Afghan/North Indian) with broken rice, cardamom and pistachio served cold.
Middle East
Firni (Afghan/Pakistani) Rice ground to powder cooked with milk and sugar, usually flavored with cardamom, garnished with slivers of pistachios and almonds, as well as with gold or silver warq (decorative, edible foil). Today, restaurants offer firni in a wide range of flavours including mango, fig, custard apple, etc.
Sütlaç (Turkish) with milk and vanilla,
Muhallebi (Turkish) with rice flour,
Moghlie (Arab) with anise and ginger,
Riz bi Haleeb (Arab) with rose water,
Shola-e-zard (Persian) with saffron,
Europe
Arroz con leche (Spanish) with cinnamon and lemon,
Arroz Doce or Arroz de Leite (Portuguese) with milk, cinnamon and lemon,
Budino di Riso (Italian) with raisins and orange peel,
Milchreis (German) with cinnamon or cherries,
Mliena rya, (Slovak),
Orez cu lapte (Romanian) with milk and cinnamon,
Risengrød (Danish) with milk and cinnamon,
Risalamande (Danish, after French: Riz à l’amande) with whipped cream, vanilla, and almonds, often served with cherry sauce,
Ryzogalo (Greek) with milk and cinnamon,
Riskrem (Norwegian),
Risengrynsgrøt (Norwegian),
Risgrynsgröt (Swedish),
Rijstebrij (Dutch),
Ria na mlijeku (Croatian),
Sutlija (Bosnian),
Sytlijash (Albanian),
Teurgoule (Normandy),
Oriz na vareniku (Montenegrin),
Tejberizs (Hungarian) with milk, cinnamon or cocoa powder,
Latin America
Arroz con leche (Latin American) varied preparation
Arroz con dulce (Puerto Rican) with coconut milk,
That reminds me – I tasted an amazing rice pudding in Istanbul, suppled to me by one of my students named Ramiz. Here’s a photo I took of it, and below is the slightly rough recipe given to me by another Turkish friend.
Turkish Rice Pudding (Sütlaç)
6 cups of milk,
1 cup of sugar,
1/2 cup short grain rice,
1 tablespoon of rice flour or corn starch,
3 – 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract,
Wash and drain the rice. Bring 3 cups of water to boil and add rice to water. When rice is cooked, drain it. Place rice and milk on heat. When mixture begins to boil, add sugar and stir occasionally, then turn the heat down. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Make a paste of the rice flour with a little amount of water and stir into milk mixture and continue stirring. Simmer some more. Turn off heat and add vanilla extract. Pour pudding in individual containers, and bake until brown on top. Serve warm or hot, or let cool.