I love rice pudding, but usually don’t have the patience to wait for the rice to cook. Then a few years ago I discovered Poha rice at a Bollywood video store. Essentially flattened, raw Indian rice flakes, I brought them home and spent a few weeks contemplating what I was going to do with them. When I ran out of medium grain rice, I had no other choice than to take the plunge. Someone had asked me to make rice pudding that very day, so plucked the Poha rice from out of the pantry and got to work.
I never imagined the rice pudding would result turn into such a creamy and delicious dish. I haven’t gone back to the medium grain rice since.
You can top your rice pudding with cinnamon, chocolate bits, dried fruit or anything else you prefer. I paired mine with some chocolate powdered nibs by sprinkling them on at the very end. Also, a little secret I like to share about Poha rice: you can eat it raw by mixing in water or milk and watching it expand to 4 times its size. It’s great for any type of diet, even raw vegan!
Rina’s 10-Minute Gourmet Rice Pudding with Powdered Chocolate Nibs
Yields 4 Servings
Ingredients
2 cups (500ml) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ vanilla bean, scraped
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup flattened rice flakes
1 teaspoon powdered chocolate nibs
Directions
Place milk with vanilla and half of the sugar in a saucepot and bring to a boil. Add flattened rice flakes and cook until tender for about 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
TIP: Flattened rice cakes cook like instant oatmeal and are great for quick and easy recipes! Try them in a savory application and you’ll be amazed at how fast you can cook up rice!
Place egg in a mixing bowl with the remainder of sugar and whisk until it turns pale yellow and foams. (This is called blanchir in French cooking)
Temper milk and rice mixture into egg and sugar. If you used a vanilla bean, remove before tempering.
TIP: Ladle small portions until the temperature is adjusted and do this slowly. Otherwise your egg will curdle and it won’t look or taste pretty.
When you’re done tempering your egg with milk, return the mixture to the same saucepot and cook at a low heat for about 3-4 minutes until it thickens.
It should look something like this when the pudding is ready.
Get your ramekins ready. Place pudding inside, garnish with cocoa nibs, stir for a few seconds and serve!
