Easy Rice Pudding

When I was a child my mother made the most awesome and wonderful rice pudding and bread pudding. The older I get the more I grow nostalgic for these foods and for the memories of the smells of mom's cooking as I'd walk into the house after a long day of school. Over time, I am learning some of her repetoire but I never really asked her how to make the two puddings. She couldn't recollect the recipes now so I will try to find some that will work.

I precooked a lot of brown rice for yesterday's dinner (featured in yesterday's post) and  thought now would be a good time to try making some rice pudding.  I made this recipe found on Allrecipes.com, with modifications as noted.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup uncooked white rice  (I used left over brown cooked rice)
• 2 cups milk, divided  (I used evaporated milk)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup golden raisins  ( I used dark raisins)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. I cooked my rice about 10 minutes longer because the brown rice is not as fluffy as the white (though it looks fluffy when cooked). I kept stirring so that the milk didn't burn the bottom of the pot. 
3.  Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm. 

Tip: If you use evaporated milk like I did, don't forget to reduce the sugar otherwise it may be too sweet!  You could also use Splenda.  I cooked the mixture a little longer to soften the rice as much as possible. Brown rice will be crunchier than white rice. Nonetheless it was a creamy pudding with a bit of crunch and not bad at all. I sprinkled cinnamon spice on the finished product but you could also stir it in the pudding while cooking.

While this is not my like my mom's rice pudding, it is pretty good!

I will be travelling for a family funeral so I apologize in advance if you visit  my blog and I cannot comment right away. I may have one or two pre-scheduled blog posts if I have enough time.