Rice pudding often gets a bad rap. I blame school dinners, with their slimy, claggy iterations, which were always covered by an unappealing skin. But I was the child at primary school who would skip the mains and head straight for dessert, and if there was rice pudding, even better! At the gurdwara, I’d skip the roti and go straight to a plate of kheer (rice pudding) with a jalebi (syrupy, deep-fried batter); I just love it. Today’s cold rice pudding with apple is comforting and refreshing after a meal.
Cold rice pudding with apples
Prep 20 min
Cook 1 hr+
Chill 1 hr+
Serves 3-4
For the rice pudding
50g pudding rice
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
30g golden caster sugar
A large pinch of flaky salt
550ml whole milk
200ml double cream
For the apples
350g bramley apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped into 2cm pieces
60g light brown sugar or golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)
Put the rice, cinnamon, vanilla, caster sugar, salt, 400ml of the milk and the double cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over a medium heat. Turn down the heat and stir frequently until the rice starts to float towards the surface. Turn down the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice sticking to the pan, for an hour to 90 minutes. Test that it’s cooked – it shouldn’t have any chalkiness, nor be too mushy: a small amount of bite is good – then take off the heat and stir in the remaining 150ml milk. Leave to cool, fish out and discard the vanilla pod, then chill.
While the rice is cooking, make the apples. Put the fruit in a pan with the sugar and vanilla bean paste, if using, and cook on a low-medium heat, stirring frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the apples are translucent. Leave to cool before serving.
Serve the cold rice pudding in bowls and dollop a generous spoonful of the apples on top.
