Indian Rice Pudding

Velouria's Note:

When I first had Indian rice pudding for dessert at an Indian restaurant, I knew I had to get a recipe for it. This one is great! It's from the Food Network's "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. Note: The ground cardamom is one of the ingredients that gives this rice pudding its Indian flavor, but some people may find it overpowering. My mom liked this recipe, but found the cardamom flavor a bit strong, so use less if you're not sure or leave it out if you don't like it. I think it will still taste great.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 cup cooked long-grain rice or 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 2 ounces sugar, approximately 1/4 cup
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 1/2 ounces golden raisins, approximately 1/3 cup
• 1 1/2 ounces chopped unsalted pistachios, approximately 1/3 cup

Directions:

1. In a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, combine cooked rice and whole milk. Heat until mixture begins to boil.
2. Decrease heat to low and cook to a simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to thicken, approximately 5 minutes.
3. Increase heat to medium, add heavy cream, coconut milk, sugar, and cardamom. Continue to cook until mixture just begins to thicken again, approximately 5-10 minutes. Use a whisk to prevent the cardamom from clumping.
4. Once mixture begins to thicken, remove from heat and stir in raisins and pistachios.
5. Transfer the mixture to individual serving dishes or a glass bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding.
6. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
7. Note: The mixture may not seem thick enough when you remove it from the heat, but once you add the raisins and pistachios and chill, it will get nice and creamy. I like my rice pudding a little sweet, so I also added a little bit more sugar than the 2 oz. called for in the recipe to suit my personal taste.

Reviews

[curlytoplg]

Delicious! I made it a little lighter by using 1% milk, and half n half instead of heavy cream. Also used Splenda instead of sugar. It was wonderful. Will definitely make this again. Thank you for posting.

[Nisa]

I have had this recipe saved for a long long time, but I have never made it because my mother had it ingrained into my mind that rice puddings were just 'no good'. Well, one day I overcame this negative view and decided to try this, and to my amazement it tasted almost exactly the same as the vermicelli puddings that the indians in our community used to make on the morning of Eid!! I was astonished and delighted because I have been craving for some ever since we moved. Now next time I will just substitute the rice with vermicelli! Also, I put in dates and substituted the sugar with brown sugar and added flaked almonds instead of pistachios. This was soooo delicious and I have made it 2 times already in just these first 4 days of Ramadhan!!

[LynnPS]

It was too "coconuty" for me. I never taste a hint of that when I order this dessert at the Indian Restaurants. Definitely next time I'll leave out the coconut and just add it sparingly at the end if I feel it needs it.