My memories of rice pudding are not fond, barely existent even. I didn’t have a grandma or aunt who had a secret rice pudding recipe that was made for special occasions. The first time I remember even being presented with it, I was probably around 13 or 14 and at a friends house, I think her mom had made it. I remember looking at the white, clumpy mass, studded with raisins and flecked with a dusting of cinnamon; I was hesitant, I just didn’t get it. Where’s the cookies and ice cream?
We reheated a little bowl and it smelled pretty good, but I took a small bite and blehh! Chunky, starchy rice, and the raisins! What was I thinking, I didn’t even like raisins (remember this is my younger “more dramatic” teenage self when food aversions were still high). So frankly I never really understood what all the hype was about. And to this day I have not eaten nor made rice pudding.
Fast forward to several weeks ago. I had this small inkling to make rice pudding. It hit me all of a sudden out of nowhere. It wasn’t like I had seen it somewhere or heard someone talking about it, I just had this urge to make it. Thinking this was a trick my mind was playing on me, I made chocolate pudding instead. And that settled that… so I thought.
I was flipping through the pages of Pure Green Magazine and I came across a recipe. Reading through the ingredients I thought, “Hmm, I like coconut milk and rice. I like spices and honey and vanilla. This sounds amazing, I must make it!” The recipe sat for about a week, while I hemmed and hawed and made chocolate chip cookies instead. When I finally got to it I decided to only make half a batch. You probably see where this is going, but people! I so get it now! It was creamy and sweet and it made my kitchen smell like a bakery. Not to mention easy. You just throw everything into a dutch oven, bake for a bit over an hour, then blast it for five minutes under the broiler. I did most of it the day before serving. And I wished I had made the full batch. It may not look like much, but I’m already scheming a day when I can make it again.
It was the perfect little dessert to finish reading all the amazing travel stories in a magazine. This is another good one! Focused on green design and lifestyle. The most recent issue titled ‘Wanderlust’ has eco travel stories about traveling across Europe in a camper van (really wanting to do this now), a travel experience like no other to Antarctica, a beautiful story about hiking in Colorado, and so much more. And what goes better with traveling than experiencing new food! There are still a few recipes in there I’d like to try!
t stand for 5 minutes and serve.