Creamy Rice Pudding Recipe (Dessert Risotto)

This is the best rice pudding that I've ever had but it's technically risotto. Today I'm going to show you why and how I did that and I'll also show you how to make this rice pudding into a comforting and surprisingly fresh dessert. To get started I'll need a heavy bottom pot, in this case my six and a half quart dutch oven and then I'll drop it over on the stove over medium high heat. Once that's hot I'll add in a whole stick of butter or 115 grams and I'll let that get nice and melty. Once it's all melted I'll add in 300 grams of arborio rice. If you didn't know arborio is a starchy fat short grain rice that's usually used for risotto. When it gets cooked it has a signature fluffy creaminess to it that I could only describe as very luxurious. It's quite special texturally too and I think it's a lot more compelling for this dish than long grain rice like jasmine or basmati. Now just like I would for risotto I'm gonna fry these rice grains in the butter until they're nice and translucent. This frying builds some nice buttery toasty flavor of course but more importantly it helps keep the rice grains separate once they're cooked. That really helps prevent mushiness. Now I'll let this fry for two to three minutes and in the meantime I'll get my cooking liquids hot. For that a large saucepan goes down over medium high heat and into that I'll measure 700 grams of milk either cow or almond or cashew work fine here or maybe even go crazy a little oat a little hemp maybe some soy milk in there whatever milk you're least offended by basically. Then 400 grams or one whole can of heavy coconut milk. Coconut milk is not traditional for most rice puddings but the direction that I'm going here is going to become clear in a second and it's going to be sick so hang tight. I'll mention that I go for heavy coconut milk over light mainly because it's richer and more flavorful. As you can see this stuff is basically coconut cream and it's fully solid at room temperature. If you only have access to light coconut milk that still has some water in the bottom like this that's no biggie even though it'll have a lower fat content it still will taste great. Now I'll also add in six grams of salt and then bring this whole thing up to a bare simmer while I check back on my rice. It's been about three minutes now. I've stirred often during that time and as you can see the arborio rice is nice and translucent around the edges and the butter itself is not browned but maybe just starting to. From here I'll add in about a fourth of the hot milk. That stuff doesn't need to be at a simmer by the way it just needs to be hot enough so that it doesn't stop the cooking process when I add it in and as you can see that came up to a boil immediately so we're good. From here I'm going to stir things to get combined and I'll let this simmer over medium heat for two minutes or so or until the rice has absorbed nearly all of the milk that I just added in. Adding liquid in stages to the rice is just another move borrowed from the risotto playbook. It helps release more starch while keeping the interior of the grain intact. Two to three minutes later the rice has absorbed all of the milk. I know that because the butter fat has broken a little bit and is now starting to show again on top. Now I'll give this rice a quick stir to release it from the bottom of the pot and as this whole thing gets starchier we're really going to need to keep a close eye on that specifically especially if you're using cow's milk because that's going to combine with the starch and scorch if you don't stir it often enough so stay frosty. Now in goes another quarter of my milk mixture or about 250 to 300 grams and from here I'll repeat the process same as before. Stir to combine and then let the rice absorb the milk for two three minutes stirring every 30 seconds or so. Alright I see the butter fat on top once again and the pot is looking dry so I'll come back and stir to release any of that rice that might be wanting to stick to the bottom. Once that's all stirred up I'll come back with the last half of my hot milk or about 500 grams and then I'll stir it again and from this point on I'll be cooking this just like I would a regular rice. Unlike risotto I don't really care about an al dente center here I prefer this rice to be fluffy and tender throughout so two rounds of splashing and hot liquid here gives me more than enough starch development to get things to a risotto level of creaminess without having the center be crunchy. Now I'll reduce the heat to its lowest setting set a timer for 15 minutes and then I'll pop a lid on the pot to keep in all of that steam. While that cooks I'll get my garnishes for this rice pudding dessert sorted out. For that I'll drop a medium non-stick pan over medium heat and into that I'll measure 100 grams of coconut flakes. I want to bring a little bit of texture to this dessert to contrast the full-on soft creaminess of the risotto or rice pudding. I guess it's both of those things. Anyways these little flakes have great texture and reinforce the coconut flavor that we're already working with. To bring some nice depth to these flakes we're going to toast them over medium heat for two to three minutes or until they're lightly golden brown like this. Don't go much further with this on color because that's going to darken the flavor of the whole dish and step on some of the light freshness that we're trying to achieve. The other main garnish for this dish is going to be mango. I've got a large ripe one here and I'm just going to dice it up. To come clean I'm actually smashing up three of my all-time favorite dishes here rice pudding risotto and mango sticky rice from Thailand. The combo of lightly sweetened coconut rice with fresh tart funky mango is again like peanut butter and jelly status in terms of classic flavor pairings. I'm cutting these mangoes into roughly one inch size chunks and I'll set them aside. Now let's check back on the rice. It's been simmering over very low heat now for about 15 minutes and it's mostly cooked but not all the way. It needs to steam itself to be finished so I'll stir to make sure that nothing is stuck to the bottom then I'll kill all the heat pop back on the lid and steam this rice for about 10 to 12 more minutes. 10 minutes later when I check back the rice has absorbed pretty much all of the milk. Arborio rice is super thirsty and will soak up any liquid that you throw at it. Before I finish this though I want to make sure that texturally the grains are cooked as much as I like so I'm going to give it a thoughtful taste and I think that's great. It's starchy and tender but not mushy and definitely not crunchy or undercooked. Now to finish this off I'm going to add 100 grams of sweetened condensed milk then I'll add in three grams of vanilla extract and from here I'll stir everything up to combine. Before I plate this though you might have noticed that this rice pudding has thickened quite a bit. Like I said Arborio is really starchy and thirsty and it will get thick pretty much no matter what after like five to six minutes so to dial in the perfect texture right before I serve this I need to add just a little bit more hot milk. In this case I'm adding about three quarters cup or so of all coconut milk and I'll stir that to combine. And there we go as you can see it's perfectly saucy now and all of those little rice grains are perfectly swelled up. To plate this I'm going to grab a deep bowl and then I'll ladle in two to three cups of this luxurious beautiful rice pudding. Next I'll drizzle on three to four tablespoons of hot coconut milk. This is essential to keep things saucy in my opinion. Like I said that rice is going to tighten up and get thick as it sits and this little bit of coconut milk on top is going to keep things nice and saucy. Next I'll drop in 10 to 15 chunks of fresh diced mango and if you're not into mango consider another tropical fruit that's also soft like banana would be great or maybe even pineapple. Now a little chef-y touch here to dial in this mango is to hit with a pinch of flaky salt. Just like you would for watermelon that touch of salt is going to bring this fruit into focus and make it taste amazing. Finally I'll top everything with a small pinch of my lightly toasted coconut flakes. Don't go too big here we want just enough to make things less monotonous. You guys this dish is a study in comforting softness. The grains of rice themselves are perfectly cooked and all swollen up with milk. The sauce is very creamy but not heavy and there's just a little bit of tropical fruit in there to brighten things up and keep things in balance. I'm so stoked on how it turned out and I really hope you guys try it soon. Let's eat this thing!