All i feel i have been doing lately is eating......and now i have a hankering for creamy warm rice pudding.  A quick scout round in the pantry short grain rice - check, sugar - check, vanilla pod - check, so far so good now milk-check!  All the required ingredients are present and i have a good hour up my sleeve before dinner. Lets get cooking....!

When it comes to rice pudding you probably have a recipe handed down as it one of those traditional old puds mums or grandma's would make after a hearty roast and then you can't move from the table as you are feeling pretty stuffed.  However there is a time and a place for puds like these and on a cold frosty day when you have been awake with a sick child all night this will put smiles on the family and full comforting bellies to cuddle up too. 

RICE PUDDING
Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS
850ml full fat milk
50g caster sugar or raw cane sugar
1 vanilla pod, split length-ways and seeds scraped out or use good quality vanilla extract
75g short grain rice (pudding), washed in cold water and drained
caster sugar for sprinkling

Method
Preheat oven to 150C

Put the milk, sugar, vanilla pod and seeds together in medium-sized saucepan.  Bring to a gentle boil and add the rice and cook for 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes.  Towards the end of the cooking the milk will become more condensed and the consistency thickens, stir every 2 minutes or so to prevent the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan.


Rice pudding ready to be poured into oven dish

Pour the rice into a shallow baking dish, about 24 cm in diameter and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the rice pudding from the oven and preheat the grill of your oven to hot. Sprinkle the rice pudding with caster sugar so the top is completely covered.  Caramelize under the hot grill for 1 minute or until the sugar has gone golden brown - caramelized.

Rice Pudding after it has been caramelized

Rice pudding is of course delicious on its own but it does go extremely well with stewed red fruits.  At this time of the year here in Dunedin i would suggest roasted or stewed rhubarb!