Old Fashioned Rice Pudding

I was on a roll. This is the same night that I made Ham and Beans for supper. I distinctly remember detesting Ham and Beans as a child (more on that later) and I really don't care for rice. But I can remember the few times I ever saw my Grandpa eat rice. I think there were only two (we are a meat and potatoes family). He drowned his rice in milk and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar. I was fascinated, but couldn't bring myself to try it.

So what possessed me to try it now, I am not sure. I found this recipe (ironically, as you will see) from an old Quick Cooking magazine. For some reason, it just kept calling me. So, in the spirit of Try It Tuesday, I forged ahead.

Take 3 1/2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup of uncooked long grain rice and 1/3 cup of sugar and mix them all together in a medium sized saucepan.
Cook over low heat until it all comes to a boil. Stir this constantly and don't heat this too quickly or you will end up with burnt milk. And to be honest, there are few things that are worse than that.
Pour the heated mixture into a greased baking pan. Cover and cook at 325 for 15 minutes.
Take it out, uncover and stir the mixture. If you look closely, you can see some rice on the spoon.
Recover and cook for 15 minutes. Take it out and stir again.
Recover (again) and cook for another 15 minutes. At this point, I am beginning to see why this is called "old-fashioned". It is called old-fashioned because it is "not convenient". But, it is starting to actually look something like a pudding.
So let's cover it back up and cook it for another 15 minutes.
Now we are getting somewhere. Add in 1/2 cup raisins and a teaspoon of vanilla. I also didn't check the recipe and added a teaspoon of cinnamon. The recipe says to sprinkle the cinnamon on at the end. Oh well. Stir all this in, cover one more time and cook for the last 15 minutes.
And magically, not instantly, but magically, this is what you end up with.
This went over really well. The Girl had two bowls. I think there were too many raisins. I don't like raisins that well (again, why I even made this is beyond me), so I just ate around them.
This is actually something I will make again. It takes awhile and is not something you just pop in and forget about, so probably not on a week night. I also would add in diced apples instead of the raisins, maybe on the second stir.

I encourage you to try this, even if your first reaction is "yuck" (a surprising number of reactions are!) Because if I like it (me, who doesn't like rice or raisins), chances are good that you will.

Click here for Printable Recipe


Old Fashioned Rice Pudding
3-1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ground cinnamon, optional
In a large saucepan, combine the milk, rice, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Pour into a greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Cover and bake at 325° for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Add raisins and vanilla; cover and bake for 15 minutes longer or until rice is tender. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired. Serve warm or chilled. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 6 servings.