Danish Rice Pudding

The raspberry-currant sauce is the crowning glory in this very rich and tasty dessert from Denmark. It is usually served on festive occassions, but it is incredibly easy to make.  What's great about it is you can use leftover rice to prepare and no one would know!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chilled whipping cream
Large bowl of ice and water (ice bath)

In a large sauce pan, heat sugar, water, gelativ and salt. Stir constantly until gelatin and sugar disolves.  Stir in milk, rice and vanilla.  Stir for approximately 1 minute until all the ingredients are well incorporated.  place sauce pan in the bowl of ice water.  Continue stirring until pudding cools and mixture drops from the spoon is small mounds. This should take about 15 to 18 minutes.

Beat the whipping cream in a chilled bowl until it forms into stiff peaks. Gently fold whipped cream into the rice mixture.  It is important that pudding is cool before adding the whipped cream.  Transfer pudding to a ungreased 1 1/2 quart mold. Cover with saran wrap. Make sure saran wrap touches the pudding so as not to develop a skin.  Place filled mold in the refrigerator and allow to chill for approximately 3 hours.

Unmold rice pudding and serve with the raspberry-currant sauce.


Raspberry-Currant sauce:
1 10oz pkg frozen raspberries (thawed)
1/2 cup currant jelly
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tblsp cold water

In a sauce pan, heat raspberry (include any syrup in the bag) and jelly until it boils.  In a separate bowl, mix water with the cornstarch.  Gently mix into the raspberry sauce in the pan, stirring constantly.  Allow to boil for another 1 minute stirring continuously.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Press sauce through a sieve to remove any seeds or serve with seeds.

Irish Cream Rice Pudding

Found this recipe in Rachel Ray's Everyday Magazine a couple of years ago.  I made some changes to the recipe, then tried it out with friends. It was an absolute hit!

Ingredients:
4 cups whole milk
1 cup arborio rice
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup Irish cream liqueur (or more depending on taste)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Butter for baking dish

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter a 9inch baking dish and set a side.  In a sauce pan, add 3 cups of milk, arborio rice, vanilla extract and sugar.  Heat until the sugar disolves. Stir occasionally to stop the rice from sticking to each other. Transfer contents from sauce pan to the butter baking dish. Cover loosely with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Stir the contents to loosen the rice, recover and cook for another 30 minutes.  Check the texture, if it is still slightly hard/crunchy, stir, cover and cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven; add the raisins and the last cup of milk. Stir and let sit until it cools.  Divide the pudding into 6 glass containers or pudding cups and drizzle with the Irish cream liqueur.

Black Sticky Rice Pudding

The first time my husband and I had this dessert was at our favorite Thai restaurant.  We just looked at each other across the table and I knew, I had to find this recipe.  This is a dessert and not served over rice, but I would be remiss by not adding it to my blog.  Black sticky rice is just white rice with the bran left on. Be sure to cook the rice first before adding sugar.  Or else the rice will toughen (learned the hard way).  There is no amount of liquid you can add to soften. If you are not able to find taro, you can omit; it does not change the taste. You can find black sticky rice at your local Asian grocery store and in some high end grocery stores (Whole foods, Central Market).

Ingredients:

6oz black sticky rice (black glutinous)

8oz taro root (cut into 1/2 inch squares) soak in cold water

2 1/2 cups water

10 tblsp sugar ( a little less than 2/3 cup)

1 tsp salt

1 cup coconut milk

Put black rice in a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Drain the rice and rinse 4-5 times to ensure most of the starch is removed.  The water will not run clear.  In a sauce pan, add the rice and the 2 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil; stirring frequently until it reaches boiling point. Reduce the heat to medium, let it simmer for 30-35 minutes stirring regularly until all liquid has been absorbed and the rice is moist and tender. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, drain the taro root. spread on a plate or heatproof container and steam in a bamboo steamer or metal steamer covered for 8-10 minutes until taro is tender.

When the rice is done, gently stir in the sugar until it is incorporated. Gently mix in the taro root.  Add the salt to the coconut milk and mix well.  Spoon the rice mixture into a bowl and pour coconut milk on top. Serve warm.