Every Country Has a Rice Pudding

When I was a kid, if my mom made white rice with dinner, I could count on having what she referred to as "rice and raisins" with the leftovers for dessert. She grew up on a farm in the Midwest, and this was a common dessert in their house, as I understand it. She would plop the rice in a bowl, cover it with milk, sprinkle in a handful of raisins, and pop it in the microwave to warm it all up. I would, of course, douse it in spoonfuls of granulated sugar to sweeten it up.

After I left home for college, I promptly forgot about this "recipe" for the better part of two decades. Fast forward to a family trip to Costa Rica: we had flown into San José and rented a car for the drive to La Fortuna, a small town at the base of Arenal Volcano in the northern part of the country. We slowly rolled through town, taking in the scenery and making a mental note of the shops and restaurants we might want to visit. As we were about to turn into the hotel parking lot, we passed a woman selling something out of the back of her truck, with a number of people gathered around.

Thomas quickly pulled over, hopped out, and came back with several cups of homemade arroz con leche. I had seen rice pudding in grocery stores, but I hadn't made the connection to that dessert I'd had as a kid, and I'd never tried it in any other circumstance. This arroz con leche was a revelation, for all of us, really. It was cold, creamy, and sprinkled with cinnamon. Perfection.

That was the moment I began to see rice puddings on restaurant menus of all kinds. I guess it's like how, when you get a new car, you suddenly realize how many other people have the same one. I tried arroz con leche, fell in love, and then realized it had been right under my nose all along. We even stumbled across a dedicated rice pudding restaurant in New York on a trip a couple of years ago. I'd say I've been living in a hole, but in fact, rice pudding sounds like it's been making quite the resurgence in the last decade or so.

In researching for this post, I realized just how many countries have their own rice pudding recipes. I'm no stranger to Thai mango sticky rice, but there's fırın sütlaç in Turkey, sholeh zard in Iran, and kheer in India, just to name a few. Many have similar throughlines like raisins or cinnamon, but champorado from the Philippines is topped with chocolate, and risalamande from Denmark is topped with cherry sauce. And this list is just puddings — it doesn't account for Japanese mochi desserts or delicious horchata. The list goes on.

It makes sense that rice puddings are so ubiquitous. Humble ingredients found nearly everywhere combine to make a simple, comforting dish that anyone can enjoy. There is quite a lot of interesting information about the history of rice puddings online, and differing accounts on when and where they originated, but it seems that at least one of the first recorded recipes of sweetened, cooked rice was documented in the 13th century. Many of the first documented versions sweetened the rice with almonds or honey.

Needless to say, I was excited to see arroz con dulce con ron y pasas in Cocina Puerto Rico. I knew this was one recipe that would please both my husband and me, and our picky kids. This was actually one of the first recipes I tackled from this book. Mia tells us this is a Christmas staple in her abuela's house — she even packages it up as gifts for loved ones. A brilliant idea.

Every time I make a form of rice pudding, my first thought is: "That's not enough rice!" That was no different here. A half-cup didn't seem like enough, but of course it was. The interesting part of this recipe, to me, was the addition of ginger juice (essentially) and coconut milk. These ingredients, along with the raisins and cinnamon, are boiled together at length until the flavorful pudding develops.

I love warm arroz con leche, so it was difficult not to dig in right away. But Mia suggests chilling it in some sort of ramekin to mold it, and then serving it cold. This may be the more traditional way, but either way, it was great. Her instructions were simple to follow, and I had no issues. I'll add that I didn't soak my raisins in rum because I didn't think my kids would love that. But I'm sure that would add a really great kick!

As I continue to develop my love for rice puddings, I think I've got some testing to do. A comparison of rice puddings from around the world could be a really fun experiment! Do you have a favorite rice dessert that I didn't mention here?

I'm learning the story of these dishes as I cook them, along with everyone else in The Edible Itinerary Cookbook Club. Did I miss something? Get something wrong? Do you have some color to add that my [limited] research missed? I'd love to hear it. Please share it in the comments or tag me in your own video. Let's learn together.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4