Rice pudding can be found in almost every country in Europe, Asia, America, and around the world.
It is simply rice cooked in milk. It's a dessert home-cooked and served by mothers more than restaurants and cafes. And for many Britons, it evokes childhood memories, as I'm sure it did for Fiona.
Depending on the country and region, there are a wide variety of rice puddings that can be eaten hot or cold, sweet or not, and topped with cinnamon, spices, nuts, dried fruits, etc.
The birthplace of rice pudding is said, by some to be England, but it has been eaten in Asia for centuries, and the exact birthplace is subject to debate among culinary historians.
Rice pudding was created somewhere in Southeast of Asia (including China and India), and as India has had sugar since ancient times, rice pudding may have come from India. It's said the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha, ate milk porridge, and so milk porridge was already being eaten in the 7th to 5th centuries BC.
As many know, Buddha, Gautama Siddhartha, left home and did six years of penance. When he practiced fasting, at one point he was days away from starvation and it was milk porridge (Payasa), administered by a village woman, Sujata, that healed his haggard body.
And then Buddha, recovered both physically and mentally by this Sujata milk porridge, was able to attain enlightenment under a large bodhi tree in the Bodhgaya forest, and Buddhism was achieved.
So, rice pudding was the nourishing food the Buddha ate after his ascetic practices and through it he regained enough power to attain enlightenment!
Pudding rice is a special type of English rice pudding with a high starch content, made with milk, cream and sugar, flavored with vanilla, nutmeg, jam and cinnamon.
For me as a Japanese person whose staple food is rice, this cooking method seemed evil, so I've been avoiding this recipe for a long time. But I had to make it for this blog...
I couldn't refuse, and when I tried it, it was delicious! More than I expected. I couldn't hide my surprise. It's not milky at all, and tastes like a light caramel. The texture of the thick milk and rice goes together very well.
Now I wish that Fiona would have made this for me and my kids, her grandkids...
Ingredients
3 tablespoons white rice, Japanese or any kind
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups milk
Nutmeg
Directions
Butter dish, set aside.
Preheat the oven to 300 F degrees.
Mix rice, sugar and milk and pour it into the prepared dish. Sprinkle nutmeg on top.
Bake it for 2 hours, or until caramelized on top. Stir every a half hours.
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