A creamy, dreamy, dairy-free brown rice pudding flavoured with ginger, orange, cinnamon and cardamom.
A little sweet, a little spice, this is a healthier-than-average dessert that's more about the spices and flavours than it is about being sweet.
I've never been the biggest fan of a traditional rice pudding. Too plain. But of course the creamy dessert is an ideal vehicle for other flavours and a great opportunity to experiment.
Rice pudding ingredients
I've used brown rice in this pudding for its substance and chew. It still cooks until very tender, but keeps its form more than white rice does, and has more nutrition. For the best results, I found it better to start with cooked rice (as opposed to cooking the rice in the pudding liquid).
The cooked brown rice is simmered with coconut cream and almond milk, a combination that tones down the coconut cream and hits the sweet spot in terms of flavour and texture. The milk is flavoured with both ground ginger and fresh ginger, a little orange zest, vanilla, cinnamon and my favourite, the heady scent of cardamom. It's a really lovely combination of flavours that I'm sure you'll love as much as I do.
You could stop right there and have a delicious rice pudding on your hands, or do as I do and take it to the next level by making an orange ginger syrup to drizzle over it before serving. The syrup is simply made by simmering orange juice, water and maple syrup with fresh ginger and orange zest. It can happily simmer while the rice pudding is cooking, so there's no excuse not to make it!
The syrup lends brightness and sweetness, and looks rather pretty too! Discard the orange zest if you prefer, but its bitterness pleases my negroni-loving heart, so I leave it in.
This creamy brown rice pudding can be served hot, cold, or anywhere in between.
I not-so-secretly adore it for breakfast as a change from the more usual suspects, alongside a stiff espresso coffee, of course.
Get the recipe
INGREDIENTS
Pudding:
- 2 cups cooked brown rice see recipe notes
- 400 ml coconut cream
- 1 cup almond milk
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- Pinch salt
Syrup:
- 2 strips orange zest thinly sliced
- Thumb-sized piece fresh ginger finely grated
- ½ cup orange juice freshly squeezed
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine pudding ingredients in a saucepan.2 cups cooked brown rice, 400 ml coconut cream, 1 cup almond milk, 2 tablespoon maple syrup, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest, 1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, Pinch salt
- Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes until rice is very tender. It will still be quite wet, but will thicken further on standing.
- For the syrup, use a peeler to take two strips of orange zest from an orange. Thinly slice. Grate the ginger, then squeeze its juice into a small saucepan.2 strips orange zest, Thumb-sized piece fresh ginger
- Add remaining syrup ingredients, then simmer for 20-30 minutes until the syrup has thickened a little.½ cup orange juice, ¼ cup maple syrup, 2 tablespoon water
- Serve pudding with a drizzle of syrup, and some strips of zest if you like. Leftover syrup will keep in the fridge for at least a week.
RECIPE NOTES
- You need to use cooked brown rice for this recipe. The rice can be cooked ahead of time, or just before making the pudding. Cook rice according to packet directions, or until the rice is chewy but tender, with no crunch.
- Recipe first published in Winter 2022 edition of Nourish Magazine.
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