Mandarin Rice Pudding

I am a huge fan of rice pudding. It's safe to say that it's one of my favorite desserts, especially for a weeknight treat.

I won't wax poetic on the virtues of rice pudding today, I'll save that for another post, lol...but basically I like its simplicity and versatility: the ingredients are pantry staples and while plain rice pudding is delicious on it's own, it can also be jazzed up pretty easily.

With my renewed interest in cooking without animal products, I was curious to see how "creamy" a rice pudding could be without the use of cream or eggs ( I'm not much of a fan of eggs in rice pudding anyway, but that's neither here nor there).

Normally, I make rice pudding using short grain rice which kind of ensures an extra creamy result due to its high starch content. Unfortunately, I was all out, so I just used regular long grain rice and it still had a nice satisfying texture :o)

As far as choosing the flavors for this pudding...I just used what I had on hand. I usually mix dried fruit or chocolate chips into my rice pudding, or sometimes fresh fruit...but since this was a non-dairy version, I thought I'd give the orange segments a try since there was little chance of a curdling reaction.

I didn't want to use vanilla extract, so almond seemed the next best choice since almond and orange are a pretty tasty flavor combination anyway. I also added some flaked almonds to echo the almond flavoring in the pudding, and for some contrasting texture...

So here it is, creamy vegan rice pudding, lol...and I know that creamy and vegan in the same sentence seems to be an oxymoron, but there's really no other way to describe this...


Mandarin Rice Pudding
makes 4 servings

32 oz organic soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup long grain rice
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
salt
11 oz can mandarin orange segments, drained
flaked almonds (optional)
demerara sugar (optional)


Rinse the rice in cold water...

Bring the rice and milk to boil over high heat, let bubble away for about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

Stir in the sugar, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes, once again stirring occasionally.

*You may notice a skin forming whenever you get back to stir the pot, no worries...it will melt into the pudding once you stir. This skin seems to help thicken the pudding and create that "creamy" texture, but if it bothers you and won't dissolve upon stirring, just skim it off.


When the pudding has reached a nice consistency, take off of the heat and stir in the almond extract and a pinch of salt. Lastly, mix in the drained orange segments.



Top with sliced almonds and a sprinkle of demerara sugar, if desired.

That's it! It's good warm or chilled.


Enjoy! :o)