How to make rice pudding

Rice pudding is the ultimate comfort food – a bowl of warm, creamy rice and a dollop of strawberry jam would take most British people straight back to their childhood. Rice pudding is made in many variations around the world, in Denmark it is known as Risalamande, Kheer in India and Arroz con leche in Spain. Some add dried fruit and spices or fold through eggs or whipped cream. A good non-stick pan is important to stop the rice sticking as it thickens.

Ingredients

100g of pudding rice
400ml of whole milk
50g of caster sugar
1 vanilla pod

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Method

Place the rice, milk and sugar in a non-stick saucepan and mix to combine. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the seeds into the pan

Place over a medium heat and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and cook gently until all of the the milk has been absorbed. This will take around 30 minutes

Check that the rice is cooked – it should be completely soft with no bite. If it isn't ready, add a little more milk and cook for a few more minutes

Divide between 4 bowls and serve

Rice pudding

Recipe Collection

How to cook rice

Variations

Try adding spices to your rice pudding such as cinnamon, nutmeg or mixed spice.

For a luxurious treat try stirring through chunks of white or dark chocolate or you could add raisins, dried cranberries or cherries.

Serving suggestions

A generous spoonful of strawberry, raspberry or cherry jam is sometimes all a good rice pudding needs, but for something a little fancier why not try Vineet Bhatia's Rice kheer with chocolate and mandarin or Laurie Gear's Chilled rice pudding with chocolate sorbet, mandarin soup and macadamia nut tuile. Josh Eggleton serves his Rice pudding with tasty ginger snap dunkers while Andrew MacKenzie makes a delicious White Chocolate rice pudding parfait.