Baked Rice Pudding

(serves 1, scalable to many)
Rice Pudding is a surprisingly popular dish around the globe, even in places which don’t eat rice as a staple. This particular recipe is of the English variety and is a dessert. Besides being absolutely scrumptous, my recipe is a quick and convenient one. As each portion is made individually, it is totally scalable. It only takes about forty minutes to complete, including baking time.

 

Ingredients

1. Rice (2T)
2. Cream (3T)
3. Custard Powder (0.5t)
4. Sugar (1t)
5. Raisins (1T)
6. Pine Nuts (1T)
7. Butter
8. Nutmeg
9. Golden Syrup

Preparation

1. The recipe assumes you are using mini-ramekins. Any kind of small baking container which holds half a cup of water will do.
2. I’ve found that using Japanese Rice for rice pudding is best. It is a short grain which remains wetter when cooked, but at the same time has a very nice chewy texture. Start by placing 2T of raw rice in your ramekin. Fill the container with cold water and give it a good stir to rinse the rice, then pour away the water.
3. Marinate your raisins in 1T of dark rum. This step is optional in case you are adverse to liquor.
4. In a bowl, mix 0.5t custard powder and 1t sugar with a spot of hot water, stirring it till you get a smooth consistency. Next, stir in 3T cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Add the whole mixture to the rice.
5. Add boiling water (about 4T) to the ramekin till you almost reach the rim, followed by a small knob of (salted) butter. Cover the ramekin with aluminium foil, just use one foil even if you have multiple ramekins.
6. The baking is simple, just remember : 15+10+5 for the toaster oven. Have the toaster oven on for 3 minutes to preheat it and then bake the ramekin for fifteen minutes. If you are making more than one portion at a time (you can do up to 4 in a standard toaster oven), add 1 minute to the initial 15 minutes for every extra ramekin.
7. After 15 minutes, lift off the foil and add 1T raisins and 1T pine nuts. Stir the rice to get all of it off the ramekin bottom, this makes for a fluffier pudding. Cover again with the same foil and bake for a further 10 minutes (again add 1 minute for every extra ramekin).
8. After 10 minutes remove the foil, drizzle on a flat t of golden syrup per portion and then bake uncovered for a final five minutes. This will dry up the pudding and give it a nice crust.

Notes

• You can use cinnamon instead if you don’t like the spicy taste of nutmeg.
• If you can’t find golden syrup or don’t know what it is, use maple syrup or honey.
• If you use a regular oven it will take longer as the heat is less direct. If you use 1-cup ramekins instead of mini ramekins, it will take longer too because of the greater volume.  I can’t list all the baking times for various combinations, just remember that the rice-custard must have been boiling for a few minutes before the part where you add the raisins and pine nuts. You can also do the initial stages of the baking by boiling in a pot to saved time.
• In case you were wondering, 12T= 0.5 cups.