Portuguese rice pudding (Arroz doce)

Arroz doce, not to be confused with British rice pudding or Spanish arroz con leche. These recipes are all translated as 'rice pudding' in English. They all have the same main ingredients, rice and milk, but the end result is truly different.

Up to today, I only seemed to be able to produce a decent arroz doce when cooking it with my mother or my mother-in-law. It's a very traditional Portuguese recipe, and at first glance very easy, but I don't seem to be able to nail it by myself!

I followed my mother's recipe several times and the rice is always under-cooked. My last attempt wielded raw rice in a bed of water. A complete mess!

This time I wasn't going to take any chances. I was cooking it for Christmas!

I whatsapped my mother-in-law, several times!, and although it ended up a bit drier than I wanted, the rice was cooked and it was delicious and creamy.

Serves: 6-8 persons.

Ingredients:

• 200g short grain rice (Carolino - if you can find this Portuguese rice variety)
• 250ml water
• 2 large lemon peels
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 litre milk, hot
• 200g demerara sugar
• 4 egg yolks

Method:

1. Heat the milk with the lemon peels and cinnamon stick in a small pan over a low heat.
   
   
   
2. Cook the rice in the water until the water dries.
   

   

   
   
3. Add the hot milk to the rice, one ladle at a time, stirring, until the rice is cooked. This step took me almost 1 hour but I found out that plenty of hot milk and patience are key to get a cooked creamy rice.
   
4. Keep the rice on a low heat, add the sugar and stir to dissolve. I use demerara instead of the traditional white sugar because it helps giving the rice pudding a yellow colour and I save in a yolk.
   
   
   
5. Add the yolks, one by one, stirring well. Keep stirring so the eggs don't cook solid.
   
   
   
6. Keep stirring until the liquid is half evaporated and the rice is creamy. I let it evaporate took much and the rice pudding ended up a bit too dry once cooled. Some people like the rice pudding firm and dry so, in this case, let the liquid evaporate until you can see the bottom of the pan when you stir. If you like it wet when you scoop it from the tray, let it just half-evaporate.
   
   
   
7. Pour the mixture into a shallow tray and let it cool. Serve cold. It was a cold day so I left it outside for 2 hours and it was enough to cool it down completely. Usually, you would let it cool down inside at room temperature for a few hours or, if pressed for time, in the fridge for a couple of hours.
   
   
   
8. Decorate with cinnamon once ready to serve.