rice pudding w strawberries2

I never thought I’d enjoy making rice pudding, let alone eating it outside of the darkest months of winter. My pressure cooker has changed that though. I’ve been enjoying bowl after bowl of delicious cold rice pudding this week as both dessert and for breakfast with fresh strawberries on top.

Rice pudding can be enjoyed in so many ways. It’s lovely warm and also when cold. You can flavour it with nutmeg, cinnamon, orange zest, raisins, chocolate, vanilla and more. You can serve it with fresh fruit, a dollop of jam, whipped cream or shredded coconut just to mention a few options. I’ve been having mine with fresh strawberries as they are in season right now and one of my favourite fruits. I look forward to eating more rice pudding with pineapple chunks and mandarin parts.

When I make rice pudding I use short grained rice called either pudding rice (‘grødris’ in Danish and ‘paprijst’ in Dutch) or risotto rice. Short grained rice cooks up a lot stickier than long grained rice. The stickiness of the short grained rice is what thickens the milk. I’ve seen people rinse their rice for making rice pudding and I don’t recommend doing that. We want the starch that is on the outside of the rice grains to help thicken the pudding 🙂

I’ve adapted my recipe from a recipe on the Instant Pot UK Facebook page. I omit butter, half the amount of sugar and use skimmed milk. This is a lovely treat and especially for people in the process of loosing weight.

I find that my rice pudding doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pot if I don’t leave it on keep warm mode longer than the natural pressure release takes. The time I forgot about it, there was a bit of light brown sticking to the bottom of the pot. So if you end up forgetting about the pot a bit like I did, just pour the rice pudding into another bowl before stirring it and seasoning. This way you won’t scrape any burnt flavour into the creamy cooked rice and milk.

I’ve been making the rice pudding and portioning it into bowls or lidded containers to go straight in the fridge. When cooled it thickens up more than when warm and I give it a little stir before topping with a bit of fresh fruit or just eat it as it is. If you find the cooled rice pudding is a bit too thick and set for your taste, just pour in a small dash of milk and give it a good stir. When we get closer to colder days again I look forward to eating it warm with a bit of cinnamon sprinkled over. If you plan on eating it warm and find it’s to loose for your liking after the pressure cooking, all you need to do is set your pressure cooker on a low sauté setting and cook it a little further while stirring it.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

  • 100 g pudding rice or risotto rice.
  • 25 g granulated sugar.
  • 700 ml skimmed milk.
  • Vanilla essence/extract to taste (optional).
  • Small pinch of salt (optional).

Method:

Add the rice, the sugar and the milk to the inner pot of your pressure cooker.

Set the pot to medium sauté and gently stir until the sugar is dissolved and the milk reaches a gentle boil.

Cancel the sauté and lock on the lid. Lock the pressure release valve and set your pressure cooker to cook 12 minutes at high pressure. When the cooking time ends allow your pressure cooker to do a natural pressure release for 15 minutes. Manually release any remaining pressure (with this portion size there shouldn’t be any pressure left in the pot by now).

Remove the lid and remove the inner pot from the pressure cooker unit.

Give the rice pudding a good stir for a couple of minutes. This will distribute the cooked rice in the pudding and make sure the milk thickens.

Season to taste with a small pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla.

Portion into bowls and serve it warm (see notes) or cover the bowls and cool in the fridge before serving.

Notes:

If you are serving the rice pudding warm you might find that it’s a little to loose for you liking. All you need to do in this case is place the inner pot back into the pressure cooker unit and turn it on to a low sauté mode. While stirring cook for a further few minutes till you reach the desired thickness and you are ready to serve.

If you plan on serving the rice pudding cold it will get thicker as it cools. If you find the cold rice pudding has gotten too thick, just stir in a small splash of milk to loosen it a little.