Ok, I confess: I saw a great rice pudding recipe on “Down Home with the Neelys.”
The essence of it was to put a cup of uncooked rice in a pan with five cups of milk, some vanilla and some sugar and cook for 40 minutes.
Can I make this in my rice cooker? I’ve never used milk in it, only water. (And if you eat rice, you must have a rice cooker- it is the best thing ever and will keep your rice perfect for hours.)
She cooked some banana slices with butter and brown sugar and used that as a topping on the pudding. Looked fabulous!
No idea about the rice cooker, but my creamy rice recipe calls for the vanilla and sugar to be stirred through at the end of the cooking process, not during. It’s supposed to stop the vanilla flavour being cooked off.
I’m picturing that foam getting into cracks and crevices. My rice cooker has a valve thing that is a pain to clean at times (brown rice). I’d hate to imagine milk in there…
I suggest rinsing your rice more thoroughly before cooking.
You don’t rinse your rice?
Just put it in a pot or whatever, run cold water over it, swish around, drain it out <or most of it, anyway> add more water, do the same, repeat until water runs a lot clearer than it did at first; I tend to rinse 3 times. 'cause at first, it’s gonna be some cloudy water; it’s just some of the starch, I think. Rinsing does not change the rice taste or texture in any way, just keeps it from foaming and makes it nice and clean before cooking it.
Never tried a rice cooker, but I make it in my Crockpot all the time. It’s so easy, my 12 year old son does it on his own (but I supervise measuring, as he’s a bit of a clutz). Feel free to modify it to suit your tastes. If you like rice pudding warm, you may want to cut back on the sugar just a bit.
3/4 cup long grain uncooked white rice
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter
4 cups milk
1 cup half-n-half
cinnamon to taste (I use about a teaspoon)
vanilla if you like it (I don’t bother, it doesn’t really need it)
smear 1 tbs of the butter around the inside of your crockpot. add all remaining ingredients and stir. Turn crockpot to high, cover, and cook for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. It will look too thin when it’s done, but it will thicken on standing.
If you like your rice pudding very thick, let it come all the way to room temperature before refrigerating. If you like it less thick, refrigerate it while it’s still very warm. I strongly recommend stirring it occasionally while it’s cooling to mix the melted butter in real well. The longer it sits at room temperature before refrigerating, the thicker it will be.
This is an occasional treat at my place, not a regular dessert. I use whole milk and real butter. I’ve also used heavy cream, but I find that the half-n-half yields better results.