Tips for Making Creamy Rice Pudding Easily

Many people are intimidated, when they have to make rice pudding, although, it is a very easy and simple dessert to make. A perfect pudding should not be mushy, soft puree of rice or too firm and dry. It should be thick and creamy.

In case you are health conscious, this dessert can be prepared using low-calorie ingredients as well. You can make it using 2% milk and you can also use fat-free milk. When you want to make this dessert, it is recommended that you use short grain rice, as long grain rice often becomes more chewy.

However, make sure you do not use brown rice, as it will taste mealy and chewy. There are two basic ways to make this dessert. They are baking or boiling. In this story, we will see both the methods.

Although, there are many recipes which use cooked rice, for this recipe, we will use uncooked rice. When rice is cooked in milk, the pudding tastes much better.

Ingredients

• Milk, (Whole or 2%) 2½ cups
• Uncooked Short Grain White Rice, ⅓ cup
• Egg, 1
• Dark Brown Sugar, ¼ cup
• Vanilla Extract, 1 tsp.
• ¼ Cinnamon, ¼ tsp.
• Raisins, ⅓ cup

Method

• In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, place milk and rice and bring it to a boil over medium high heat.
• Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer till the rice is tender and soft.

• Keep stirring frequently to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom and sides of the pan.
• While the rice is cooking, in a small bowl, whisk egg and brown sugar together. Mix them well.
• Add half a cup of hot rice mixture to the egg mixture, one tablespoon at a time and whisk vigorously to incorporate.

• Then add the egg mixture to the rice and milk mixture, and let it simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes, until thickened.
• You will have to ensure, that the mixture does not come to a boil.
• Stir in the vanilla extract and remove from heat.
• At last, stir in the raisins and cinnamon.
• Serve it either warm or cold.

Since we have just seen a pudding recipe using boiling method and with uncooked rice, the next recipe uses baking method and cooked rice.

Ingredients

• Cooked Small Grain Rice, 2 cups
• Sugar, ½ cup
• Eggs, 2
• Milk, 2 cups
• Vanilla Extract, ½ tsp.
• Raisins, ¼ cup
• Powdered Cinnamon, ½ tsp.

Method

• In a bowl, beat the eggs till they are light and fluffy.
• Add 1 tsp. sugar and 2 tsp. milk at a time, alternately. Whip well, so that the mixture is fluffy.
• Add rice, vanilla extract and cinnamon to the egg mixture and stir well.

• Pour the mixture into a baking dish or pan.
• Bake for about 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 325° F for 25 to 30 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and stir in the raisins. Mix well.
• Serve hot or cold.

If you have diabetes or you want to cut down on the number of calories, you can make use of honey or low-calorie artificial sweeteners, in place of sugar. If you like nuts, you can add almonds, cashew nuts and pistachios to these recipes, but they should be added just before serving, else the nuts will not remain crunchy.