RICE PUDDING

Steps:

• Make the Rice
• Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the rice, stir, and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 45 minutes. It will look as if all the rice grains have melted into a big clump, but they have not. The rice is just overcooked, which is what you want. Using a heatproof silicone spatula, begin stirring the rice to help the remaining water evaporate and prevent the rice and starch from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Continue until most of the liquid has evaporated. (It is impossible to get it completely dry since the starch has gelled and is holding on to some water.) Total cooking time will be about 1 hour.
• Turn off the heat.
• Boil the Milk
• Combine the milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon stick in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Combine the Milk and Rice
• Pour the boiling milk mixture into the rice, stir well, and turn on the heat to medium. It will seem as if you have added too much milk, but you have not.
• Cook the rice, stirring every 5 minutes or so to remove the skin that forms and the starch that builds up along the side of the pan, until the liquid is reduced by half. This should take about 45 minutes.
• This step does require you to stay in close range of the pan because leaving it unattended can cause the milk to boil over. Stirring also helps speed the evaporation process because it prevents a skin from forming on the surface of the pan (which would keep the steam from escaping).
• The pudding will thicken as it cools, so keep that in mind when judging the consistency.
• Garnish and Serve
• You can serve the rice hot, chilled, or at room temperature. Garnish each serving with a sprinkling of ground cinnamon and a cinnamon stick, if you like.
• COOKING NOTES
• INGREDIENTS
• Short-Grain versus Long-Grain Rice
• It is best to use short-grain rice for the pudding since it is higher in starch and will produce a creamier pudding. Long-grain rice will work as well, but the texture will be slightly different.
• Milk
• Substituting a low-fat milk in the recipe will not produce the same creamy texture. However, feel free to substitute coconut milk (full-fat version) in equal amounts for a nice change.
• TECHNIQUES
• Cooking the Rice/Using Leftover Rice
• In order for rice pudding to come out tender and creamy, you have to overcook the rice in an abundant amount of water. I find that using leftover rice produces a clumpy pudding with hard bits of rice. I suggest you make fresh rice specifically for this pudding and keep your leftover rice for a rice salad.
• ADVANCE PREPARATION
• The pudding can be made a few days in advance and kept covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator. Place the plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding so that a milk skin does not form.