Easiest ever rice pudding recipe

[Thomzo]

When I was a child we had rice pudding on Friday evening. My mother would make it up in the morning and pop it in the oven before taking me to school, it would be ready just as we got back from ballet lessons. My father liked rice pudding to be "so solid you could wrap it in brown paper and pop it in your knapsack". My mother would measure out the rice, butter, whole milk and sugar. It was heaven, a heart attack in a dish!

This recipe is nothing like that! In fact it bears about as much similarity to my mother's rice pudding as a pork chop does to a roast dinner. It really should be called something else as there is bound to be someone who says "I prefer my mother's version better!". Fine, if you have the time to make it and the spare capacity in your cholesterol levels to eat it, go ahead. Mine is as good for you as you want and can be cooked in the time it takes to eat the pork chop.

The basic recipe is as follows:

Boil pudding rice in water for ten minutes.
Drain, stir in your favourite yogurt.
Serve!

Stir the rice occasionally while it's cooking to make sure it doesn't stick. You may need to sweeten, depending on the flavour yogurt and your sweet tooth.

Here's a week's worth of flavour suggestions:

Monday - first day back at work. You need some comfort food. Add some raisins to the rice as it cooks. Stir in full fat vanilla yogurt. Add a pinch of cinnamon and a spoonful of brown sugar.

Tuesday - you step on the scales and decide to go for a low fat toffee yogurt.

Wednesday - the whole family's home. Serve with sliced banana and banana flavoured yogurt.

Thursday - the boys are at football practice and the girls are round. Add some dried cranberries to the rice as it's cooking. Stir in some fromage frais instead of yogurt and melt white chocolate into the mix at the last minute.

Friday - friends round for dinner. Try raisins again. Stir in creme fraiche, a tot of rum and some brown sugar. Pop in a casserole dish in the oven to keep warm while you eat your main course.

Saturday - Selfsufficientish day. Serve cold with foraged blackberries, home made yogurt and sweeten with home produced honey (or jam).

Sunday - day of rest. Full roast and proper rice pudding like your mother used to make.

Zoe

[snapdragon]

lovely
Haven't bought pudding rice or yoghurt since my youngest left home - maybe i'll have to get some now

[prison break fan]

What a brilliant idea! I have just made some easiyo yog. so shall definitely have a go. I have masses of raspberries. Must think about a diet soon! pbf

[Shirley]

Sounds good! It would be perfect to put into a little pot with a packed lunch for my son.

[Rod in Japan]

I'll have a slice of your mother's rice pudding please. These 'substitute ideas' make we want to cry. My mother and sister keep trying them and enthusing, but really, they're not a patch on the real thing.

My son was curious to try rice pudding since he had heard me raving on about it, and when we had hours to kill at Heathrow, we found some in a plastic cup with a mango topping. As he dug into it, the growing look of shock, disgust and horror on his face was a sight to see. All I could say in its defence as I finished it off was that it was just rather bad airport rice pudding. But now he's joined his mother in condemning all such 'abuses' of rice.

[Millymollymandy]

Thomzo are you stirring the yog into the hot drained rice? Doesn't it melt/go curdled? I like the sound of it cold more than hot actually.

(Though I'd rather have the real thing, not baked but done in a saucepan just runny enough with homemade jam stirred in! ooh yum)

[red]

whilst is sounds good and healthy and ideal for kids snack etc.. i am with Rod here.. I would prefer to have the real thing, even if not very often...

maybe you should call it yogurty rice!!

[ina]

Cooked in 10 minutes? Not my rice... But then, I always use brown rice, of course; so that would take a bit longer. But yoghurt with rock hard little grains in it doesn't appeal!

However, I bet my recipe is not much more difficult.

Soak rice in water overnight. Drain, add semi skimmed milk, a little orange peel (of an untreated orange!) and cinnamon; boil 10 minutes with occasional stirring, pop into thermos - and it'll be properly cooked by tea time. Alternatively, you could use a haybox, or the feather duvet to keep it warm. You can, of course, add sugar - I prefer it without, and serve it with fruit salad or stewed fruit. And spices can be varied, too.

I'm thinking of buying a slowcooker for these occasions...

[StripyPixieSocks]

whilst is sounds good and healthy and ideal for kids snack etc.. i am with Rod here.. I would prefer to have the real thing, even if not very often...

maybe you should call it yogurty rice!!

What ^ said I'm afraid!

Mind, I'm not keen on many flavoured yoghurts to be honest as most of them haven't even seen a cow let alone should be called Yoghurt and usually too many additives...

We're having baked rice pudding tonight as it happens though :)

[Thomzo]

Yogurty rice - good idea.

Mandy, yes stir the yogurt into the drained rice. It doesn't curdle.

Ina, I've never come across brown pudding rice, only brown long grain or brown basmati (which appears to be exactly the same thing). I would imagine you would have to cook brown rice for a lot longer.


Rod, I'm not surprised at the airport story. Airport food is generally awful and well overpriced.

Zoe

[StripyPixieSocks]

Rod, I'm not surprised at the airport story. Airport food is generally awful and well overpriced.

I used to work at a place very nearby where they made meals for the airport and meals for passengers on the planes... I wouldn't eat any of it after seeing what went on there

[pumpy]

I'm with Rod,....mum's the best. But take a tip from me, never ever attempt to cook one in a pressure cooker! (unless you are on a weeks holiday, which is about how long it took me to clean the resultant residue from the weights/valve etc.)

[LBR]

I like to use short grain rice, aka round grain rice, or pearl rice, for rice pudding. I get this at the health food store. It's only sold in the whole grain version.

I bake it with milk or cream and eggs, and organic sugar (or maple syrup) and add spices and vanilla. Similar to custard.

In a pinch I make rice in a saucepan, let it sit, and add milk or cream, and dried or fresh fruit. I put in a bit of maple syrup and nutmeg.

[ina]

Ina, I've never come across brown pudding rice,

Available in all good health food shops... I get mine from the SUMA food coop. I've got so used to eating wholegrain everything that white just has no taste for me.

[Thomzo]

Cheers, Ina.

Trip to the healthfood shop tomorrow then to find some. (Is it sad to get so excited about rice?)

Zoe