Deli-Style Rice Pudding

I feel sure that I've already posted a recipe for rice pudding, and yet I can't find it anywhere on my website, listed on the Internet with my name, nor in my computer.  How can that be when it is my husband's favorite dessert? It's a mystery...

I had meant to make it for my husband for his birthday, but we were in Seattle, celebrating with our kids, so I knew it was a must for father's day.

In any case, eggless, deli-style rice pudding, such as this,  is a very smooth and creamy tasting rice pudding. If you prefer it richer, you can use 2% or even whole milk. We prefer it less filling so that we can eat more of it! Both sushi rice and Arborio rice are excellent for rice pudding as both types of rice stay soft when refrigerated.  they're also both very starchy, which makes the pudding thicken well. I prefer sushi rice to Arboriothough,  because it bubbles up less, and is therefore easier to cook. It's hard to know exactly how much liquid to add to rice pudding, because it depends on the kind and shape of the pot you are using, the kind and age of the rice, the stove you are using, etc.  That extra milk you see at the end of the recipe, however, is a little insurance that I've built in to the recipe  It ensures that even if you've boiled away too much of the liquid your pudding can still be made perfect!

1 cup Japanese sushi or Arborio rice
4 cups water
1-1/2 inch piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise with one end still attached
1/4 teaspoon salt

5-1/3 cups 1% milk  (use 2% or whole milk if you like it richer)
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup raisins
1/4-1/2 cup extra milk (any percentage of your choice), as needed

Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Place the rice, water, vanilla bean and salt in a 5-quart pot. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the 5-1/3 cups milk and sugar in another 3-quart pot, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low and keep warm until the rice is done cooking. You can see that I'm using quite a large pot for this.

Remove the vanilla bean, scrape the vanilla seeds into the milk mixture and then drop the vanilla pod back into the mixture. Ladle the milk mixture into the cooked rice, stirring gently to break up any lumps (now you can see why I needed such a large pot).

Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The pudding will be thicken dramatically in the last 5 minutes.

After 15 minutes of cooking, you can see that it still only looks like a pot of milk.

But, in the right-hand  picture, you can see that it has thickened and looks like pudding.

Stir in the raisins (If they are not soft and plump to begin with, add them about five 5 minutes earlier).

Spoon the pudding into a 9x13-inch glass pan, which will give it maximum area to cool down.

Let the pudding cool briefly and then cover loosely with foil and refrigerate until completely cool (about 6 hours).

The pudding may look unappealing when you uncover it. Don’t worry! Stir it up and add, if necessary, 1/4 -1/2 more milk to loosen it and to provide just a little bit of creamy sauce. It should feel heavy as you stir it, but not gluey.  When you have it the consistency you like, smooth it back out, grate some fresh nutmeg over the pudding and lightly sprinkle it with cinnamon. The pudding will now look yummy!

For a more decorative service, spoon the pudding into individual goblets or bowls and sprinkle each serving with nutmeg and cinnamon.

Rice pudding keeps for 1 week in the refrigerator.

Do not freeze.