Paula's Urban Pantry: Vanilla Rice Pudding with Cherries

Who doesn't have a favorite comfort food? For some it can be mac-n-cheese, a big heaping bowl of pasta or just a real good hamburger. One of mine and my step-daughter's favorite is rice pudding. There is just something about homemade rice pudding that makes me feel all warm and comforted. The basic recipe is just milk and rice. And then you can get as creative as you want with the flavorings and toppings.

This recipe is adopted from Ellie Krieger who is a nutritionist and cook book author. I have made many various rice pudding recipes over the years. I like this one because it is very simplistic and full of flavor without any of the fat usually in rice pudding.

The rice used in this recipe is Arborio rice which is usually used in Risotto dishes because it becomes a rich creamy rice once cooked. The creaminess of this rice makes the recipe very rich and decadent without having to add high fat heavy cream which is typically used in most rice pudding recipes. Note; I have used brown rice in this recipe before and you will need to use full fat milk when using brown rice. Still wonderful.

Note: The prep pictures did not turn out well so I am going to deviate from my previous posts and just have pictures of the finished product.

Ingredients: 1 cup of Arborio rice
                  2 cups of water
                  3 cups of Vanilla soy milk (I used the Light Silk version)
                  1/4 cup of sugar
                  Pinch of salt
                  1 Cinnamon stick
                  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
                  1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
                  1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg

Extra materials: A dutch oven or heavy pot that can go from stove to oven.

Preheat oven to 375

Bring water to a boil in a medium, heavy bottomed, ovenproof saucepan or dutch oven. Add the rice and cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice is almost cooked which should be about 20 minutes.

While rice is cooking, whisk together the soy milk, sugar and salt in a large bowl. When the rice has cooked and still hot, add the soy milk mixture and cinnamon stick. Cover and place in the oven. Cook for 45 minutes.

Once rice is cooked remove from oven and remove cinnamon stick. Stir in the vanilla, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg. Don't worry if the pudding is slightly liquidy, the liquid will continue to absorb into the rice and thicken as the pudding cools.

This recipe serves 8.   2/3 cup servings. Pudding will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3 days.

Once you have distributed rice among the bowls, you can dust with more cinnamon or nutmeg.