Cardamom and Rose Water Rice Pudding
A number of years ago I worked as a waitress in a local Middle Eastern restaurant. It was a mix of Moroccan, Persian, and Arabic food, with some California “fusion” thrown in for good measure. Some of the dishes our chef made were out of this world! Others were literally out of a jar. Like most of our desserts, the rice pudding was an “of the jar” variety. We would plop some Kozy Shack rice pudding in a bowl, stir in some rose water, and sprinkle it with cardamom, and then charge $8. I’m not saying it wasn’t delicious, it was, but it was also not authentic.
I am not entirely sure why we went that route when making a proper pudding like this one, is not really that much trouble. And the results are 100 times more delectable than store-bought pudding (with some rose water stirred in).
However, all that being said. If you don’t have time to make this… try the lazy version, it’s pretty tasty.
Cardamom rice pudding with pistachios and rose water
Adapted from Yottam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamim
Pudding
1 2/3 cups whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped or 1 tsp vanilla extract
8 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
½ cup (120 g) short-grained rice
2 Tbsps (30 g) unsalted butter
2 Tbsps condensed milk
1 Tbsp mild-flavored honey
1 pinch salt
Syrup
1 Tbsp mild-flavored honey
1 ½ tsp rose water
1 tsp water
3 Tbsps unsalted pistachios, roasted and slivered or lightly crushed
1 Tbsp dried edible rose petals (optional)
1. Put the whole milk, cream, vanilla bean pod and seeds (or vanilla extract) and cardamom in a medium saucepan and place over high heat. As soon as the mix is about to boil, remove from the heat, allow to cool down, and leave in the fridge to infuse overnights or at least a couple of hours.
2. To prepare the syrup, stir together the honey, rose water and water until the honey dissolves. Set aside.
3. Add the rice to the pan with the infused milk and cream, bring to a boil, and simmer over medium heat, stirring all the time, for 20 minutes. The rice should be cooked through but still retain a bite and the pudding should be thick. You will need to add a little bit of water, up to 5 tablespoons, toward the end of the cooking time if the pudding becomes too thick before the rice is done.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully pick out the cardamom pods and vanilla pod. Stir in the butter, condensed milk, honey and a pinch of salt. Put in serving bowls and sprinkle with pistachios and rose petals, and drizzle with the syrup.