Okay, so. If you had a chance to read the previous post, you’d know that I’m in a quandary today. I was asked about rice pudding recipes and found myself at a loss for a ready answer. That doesn’t happen all that often so I realized a Dr. Demento day in the kitchen was in order. I pulled on my big rubber gloves and my goggles (okay, my apron-safety first!) and set to work.
First order of business- What kind of rice:
My first thought- short grain. It has a stout and sturdy texture that will stand up to hours on the stove top, comes from a similar family to arborio rice of risotto fame and should have plenty of starch to give up to thicken the cooking liquid around it.
My second thought-long grain. It’s prone to breaking up, lending a porridge-y consistency to the dish, has starch to spare if it’s not washed and would break down, not leaving any chunks of chewy rice, leading to a creamier, richer finished product.
Well, right there you see the problem. And research didn’t help as both these theories found credence in a number of recipes I found. The next step: Cooking Method
My mother always used a double boiler and left the rice cooking all day long. Clearly this was superior to anything that could be accomplished with direct heat as there was no chance for the dairy elements to scald, burn, stick to the bottom or in any other way be altered by their proximity to the heat source. I realized I needed a way to apply indirect heat but short of stealing Cara’s mother’s double boiler, I would have to use what I had handy: a rice steamer, crock pot, pressure cooker or some sort of contraption I built for the occasion.
Speaking of handy, that brings me to the last element of my experiment, using only what I had available. That’s the beauty of rice pudding. Like so many recipes in the treasure chest of our culinary culture, this dessert is built on what was on hand. Creating something pleasing to the palate from an implausibly less than plentiful pantry is a legacy left us from enterprising epicures throughout the centuries. So, here goes, rice pudding with only the tools and ingredients I have on hand.
Recipe 1
Cooking method: Rice Steamer
Rice Used: Broken Basmati (I threw it in a sack and hit it with a rolling pin. A good technique to release, uh… starch, yeah, that’s it…)
To 1/2 c basmati rice, I added
2 Tbl. Sweetened Condensed Milk (I like Vietnamese Coffees sometimes)
2 Tbl. Nonfat Powdered Milk (from my Yogurt making experiments)
1 Cup (about) 2% Milk
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Cinnamon, freshly grated Nutmeg and Allspice
It went in the rice cooker with a 3/4 full tank of water.
UPDATE: A little under 45 Minutes:
The water had steamed away from the heating element and the light went off on the rice cooker. I checked inside to find that the rice had clumped up and there was very little free liquid in the cooking bowl. I refilled the reservoir to about 3/4 again and added about half a cup more 2% milk, replaced the dome and left it alone.
UPDATE: An hour and a half:
The rice is cooked-it’s soft but still just a little firm. It drank up all the liquid and seemed kind of chunky and clumpy. I added the better part of a cup of milk to bring back the creaminess. The water’s all boiled away too so for a moment I’m just going to let it sit to see if the starch re-disperses into the milk.
Finished Product: 1 hour, 45 minutes:
As I’d hoped, the milk assimilated perfectly and the result is a creamy starchy product studded with interesting bits of toothsome rice grain-lets. It’s all in the testers’ hands now.
Recipe #2
Cooking Method: Crock Pot
Rice used: Parboiled Long Grain White
To about 1 cup of rice I added:
11/2 C 2% Milk
1 c. Nonfat powdered milk
2 Tbl. Local Honey
1 Tbl. Finely minced Lemon Zest
1 piece of Star Anise (they look like stars, I used one arm of the star)
1 lonely Cardamom Pod (my kingdom for some cardamom today!)
1 Tea bag purporting to be “Bombay Chai”
1 piece of ginger about the size of the top of my pinky.
cinnamon, nutmeg
On went the lid and I cranked it all the way to low (I’m feeling reckless now!)
UPDATE: Half-hour mark:
I gave the crock pot pudding a stir. While it’s appreciably warm, it doesn’t seem to be actively cooking the rice. Everything was pretty much the way I’d left it give or take a few degrees. I’m going to get a little daring and kick it to high for a while.
UPDATE:One hour, fifteen:
The rice is barely getting soft but what concerns me is the sides of the slow cooker. They’re pretty hot and whatever’s splashed up against them seems to be sticking and crusting. Debating on turning it down. Also the flavor’s getting a little cloyingly sweet. Powdered milk, in addition to adding creaminess, has a sweetness of its own from the milk sugars, I’m wondering if the honey was overkill. Also, all the spices are getting a little overpowering.
UPDATE: An hour and a half:
Removed teabag, large spice pieces, scraped down sides. Rice is clumping, sticking to sides, tastes almost packaged (powdered milk? Spice combo?) Don’t have high hopes right now…
UPDATE:1 hour, 45 minutes:
Added almost a cup more milk. Sides scorching badly. Turning it down. Cross your fingers for this one.
UPDATE: The 4 hour, 20 minute mark (we gave up and took the dogs to the beach):
We returned to find the rice had soaked up all the liquid and the top had browned. “It smells baked,” remarked Cara. It took about another cup and a half of milk to rehydrate the thing again and, strangely enough, it had lost that cloying sweetness; so much so that I’m considering adding sugar. Either way, I stirred it around quite a bit, broke up as many chunks as I could and put the lid back on it to keep on keepin’ on. We shall see.
Finished Product: Six and a half damn hours later:
The rice was still clumpy with parts of it brown, other parts porridge-y, the walls of the crock pot were caked to a point where I’m wondering if I’ll need a steel sheep to get it clean and, still, the sweetness is gone. It’s now almost 9:30 at night. I know when I’ve been bested. I dumped the whole mess into a container and tossed it in the fridge for tomorrow’s taste test. Perhaps I can salvage it when it’s cool.
Recipe #3 (and yes, this one’s Vegan)
Cooking Method: Pressure Cooker
Rice Used: Short Grain Sweet Brown
To a little more than one cup rice I added:
1 Can Coconut Milk
1/2 C Almond Milk
1/2 C chopped pecans
1/2 C Washed Raw Sugar
2 Jasmine Green Teabags
Cinnamon, Allspice, nutmeg, Vanilla Extract
I clamped down the lid and let it ride at a really low heat (2 on our electric stove)
UPDATE:20 Minutes:
I’m not hearing the characteristic whistle that tells me pressure’s building up in the pot so I’m bringing the heat up to 4 til I hear it. I’ll turn it back down from there as I don’t want it to scorch but as the short grain brown will take the longest time to cook I think it’s important the heat penetrate it throughout before it gets turned down to cook under it’s own pressure.
UPDATE:Half hour
We’ve got a whistle, I’m turning down the heat again.
UPDATE: Just under an hour:
The rice grains are softening nicely though they don’t seem to be absorbing much of the liquid, let alone thickening it.
UPDATE: One hour, twenty minutes:
Removed teabags. Rice is soft but there’s still a lot of liquid. To rectify this I’ve uncovered the pot and turned the heat back up to 4 in hopes I can concentrate the liquid by evaporating off some of the moisture as steam. Still worried it will scorch, will be stirring often at this point.
Finished Product: An hour and a half:
The lidless cooking paid off big time! The sauce has thickened considerably and turned a deep brown. The rice grains are separate and fully cooked though I believe the thickening of the pudding to be due more to caramelization and reduction than any starch leeching out of the rice.
Well, folks, that’s about it for today. Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion: the taste test!
Kim Goes Green 