Reciprocity

When I was growing up, a staple Sabbath breakfast was rice pudding. We made the traditional custard based pudding but used brown rice, fresh eggs from the hen house, soy milk, honey, and lots of nutmeg grated over the top just before baking. Combining soy milk and eggs now seems odd, but in those days it was just part of the mix of being self-sufficient on the land, trying to make ends meet, and having both vegans and lacto-ovo vegetarians in the family. We made lots of incongruous combinations like that.

I put this vegan pudding together out of thin air this evening, though it definitely harkens to Thai “sticky rice” dishes I’ve eaten at restaurants in more recent times. It is just sweet enough with the rice syrup and fruit; creamy and delicious.

Coconut Rice Pudding

1 cup Carnaroli Rice (or other arborio rice)
2 cups spring water
1/4 cup rice syrup

1 can (14 oz) Thai Kitchen Lite Coconut Milk
6 fresh, sticky dates, cut into small bits
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped into small chunks
additional rice syrup to taste
1/2 tsp cardamom
pinch cloves

Bring water to a boil in a heavy bottomed pot. Add rice (unwashed) and rice syrup. Reduce heat to low; cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, prepare the pineapple and dates.

Add coconut milk to cooked rice. Stir gently until you have a smooth, even consistency. Add remaining ingredients. Return to stove until warm through and starting to bubble.

Spoon into dessert dishes. Garnish with pistachios. Pudding will thicken as it cools.

Note: Thai Kitchen brand coconut milk is the only kind I’ve found that doesn’t have preservatives.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Memoirs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.