The best rice pudding

Name: The best rice pudding
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 5 min
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: Butter, for greasing; 80 g short grain pudding rice; 4 cardamom pods; 600 ml whole milk; 200 ml single cream; 45 g demerara sugar; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 vanilla pod, split; 1 unwaxed lemon, 3 strips pared zest; Cherry or plum compote, to serve (optional)

Martha Collison's rice pudding recipe is inspired by the original – oven baked in the traditional way. Baking avoids the need for hours of stirring, while slow cooking the milk brings out its natural sweetness. Taking inspiration from Scandinavian desserts, this is delicately spiced with cardamom and cinnamon, plus a little lemon zest for a citrus lift.

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Vegetarian

Serves4
CourseDessert
Prepare15 mins
Cook2 hrs 5 mins
Total time2 hrs 20 mins

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Butter, for greasing
80g short grain pudding rice
4 cardamom pods
600ml whole milk
200ml single cream
45g demerara sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 vanilla pod, split
1 unwaxed lemon, 3 strips pared zest
Cherry or plum compote, to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven to 150ºC, gas mark 2 and generously grease a 1L pudding dish (enamel is best) with a thick layer of butter.
Place a small frying pan over a low heat. Add the rice and cardamom, then toast, tossing occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until the rice is golden and smells nutty. Remove from the heat, then pop the cardamom seeds out of their pods and grind into a fine powder using a pestle and mortar or spice grinder.
Combine the milk, cream, sugar and cinnamon in a large jug until mixed. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and add to the mixture with the cardamom powder and rice.
Pour the creamy mixture into the buttered dish, then add the lemon zest strips and empty vanilla pod. Bake for 1 hour, then remove the pudding from the oven and take out the lemon zest and vanilla pod.
Give the pudding a good stir to break up any clumps and mix in the skin. Return to the oven for 1 hour more. The top will have turned deeply golden and caramelised in places, and the rice will have become tender.
Serve warm, with extra cream and a big dollop of tangy compote, if liked – cherry or plum work well.

Cook’s tip

Toasted rice

Toasting the rice gently in a frying pan before adding it to the pudding is a simple way to layer flavour into this humble dessert. It releases a nuttiness that works beautifully alongside the spices.

Hidden almond

Norwegian rice pudding, as I discovered through my brother-in-law, is often eaten at Christmas, and a single blanched almond is stirred into it. Whoever receives it in their bowl is said to have good luck for the coming year and wins a small prize (a marzipan pig). Try throwing an almond into this recipe for a fun element of surprise!

Texture

This recipe makes for a gloriously stodgy pudding. The rice will be cooked through after 90 minutes, so if you prefer your pudding to be more creamy with less of a dark skin, remove it from the oven then

Typical values per serving when made using specific products in recipe