Last night I tried to make rice pudding for the first time. I was using a recipe I got from Yahoo. I followed the directions, however, my rice pudding was a little too runny. I checked it this morning after it sat in the fridge overnight and it still was a bit too runny. What did I do wrong?
The recipe was as follows:
(the only variations wer that I used long grain rice when it called for short grain, whole milk rather than skim and no raisins)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup short grain white rice
3 cups skim milk, heated
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup raisins
Preparation - Estimated cooking time: 1 hour and 5 minutes -
1 Combine the rice, milk and salt in the top of a double boiler. Cover and allow the mixture to steam for about 1 hour. Make sure to stir frequently.
2 When the rice is tender, allow it to cool slightly and stir in the butter, vanilla, sugar and raisins.
Thanks!
I think the problem may be the exclusion of the raisins–they absorb a fair amount of liquid, and by eliminating them, the milk they should have absorbed is instead just sitting in the bottom of the bowl. I would cut the milk back to about 2 1/2 cups for a non-raisin recipe.
The long grain rice you used? That’s most likely the problem. Short grain rices contain more starch than long grain rices. That’s why it didn’t thicken like it should have. I’m not sure how it can be fixed–you could possibly try to cook it on a low heat in a saucepan, and when hot, add more raisins, which will soak up the excess liquid. Don’t try to add more rice, because it won’t cook well.
Do you have any cornstarch? You could make a slurry of a few teaspoons each of milk and cornstarch, and add to the pudding, but the pudding needs to be at a boiling point to make that work. If you can heat the pudding to a boiling point without scorching it, it’ll work.
Pssst… booklover… there are raisins in the recipe.
Pssst… JavaMaven1… the OP stated he didn’t use raisins even though they were called for. 
Oooops. I was too focused on her using the long grain rice to notice that she didn’t use raisins. 
:smack: oy! I never thought about the starch differences between short and long grain rice. The one thing I don’t understand though is bringing it to a boil. I put it in double boiler per the recipe. Well, ok, a makeshift double boiler consisting of two roasting pans but the puddin’ never boiled, it just got hot.
As for the raisins as a thickening agent, I don’t care for raisins in rice pudding and my girlfriend can’t stand them…sooooooooo…no raisins.
Thank you all for your help…I think I’ll give it another shot after we finish drinking the pudding we have now
Here’s my recipe from the Williamsburg cookbook. It uses raisins, but I doubt they change anything. Just omit them. I’ve never had a problem, although I use the raisins.
4 eggs, 3/4 cups sugar, 2 cups milk, 1 1/3 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 tablespoon butter, melted, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 2/3 cup seedless raisins.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 2 qt. casserole. Combne the eggs, sugar, and milk, and beat well. Fold in the rice, lemon juice, vanilla, melted butter, nutmeg, and raisins.
Pour into the prepared casserole and put the dish in a pan of boiling water. Bake at 350 F. for approximately 45 minujtes or until the custard is set.
I also made rice pudding for the first time, the other night.
My recipe said to be careful not to cook it too long, as that will curdle the milk.
When it came out of the oven, the pudding part did have bits of solid white in it. Does that mean the milk curdled? It didn’t taste bad.
BTW, mine was a little runny, too, and I didn’t use raisins either. I put it back in the oven at a low temp (200) for a few and it thickened up a little. Plus sitting made it a bit thicker.
My mother’s recipe:
1 cup of white rice
300 ml (11 oz) of water
600 ml (21 oz) of milk
1 tbs sugar
1 dash vanilla essence
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
butter
Put rice and water in a saucepan. Heat, stirring continiuosly until water has evaporated. Add milk and continue stir over low heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Stir in sugar and vanilla essence.
Transfer to tray for baking. Dot with butter and sprinkle with nutmeg. Put into water bath. Place into preheated oven. Cook at 350 until browned.
You don’t have to do the water bath bit. You can just add the sugar and vanilla and serve it. It’s best to let it get a little thicker if you’re going to do that.