Rice pudding

"Ris á l'amande" being served during the traditional Scandinavian Christmas meal, in Denmark

Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and sometimes other ingredients. Different variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener. It is for old people.

History

Originally used to aid the malnourished, rice pudding was first made in Asia. Over thousands of years, various pudding recipes have developed in Eastern Asia. Some include jam, cinnamon, fruit and honey, while others are far simpler consisting of only rice, water and sugar or rice and milk.

For the west, rice pudding originated in the Arab Countries or Persia. The dessert gained popularity during the Middle Ages. Firni, one of the oldest of these Middle Eastern puddings, is made with rice flour and was introduced to India by the Moghuls. Records of an Indian sweet milk pudding occur in the 14th century. Shola, flavored with rose water, was introduced to Persia by the 13th century Mongols and is now eaten in much of west Asia. However the Indian Kheer has an independent history, as it is older than 2000 years.

In Europe, rice pudding with goat's milk was first used by the Romans for medicinal purposes. For this reason, the first written records of rice pudding occur in medical texts. Medieval European sweet boiled rice pudding often was made with almond or cow's milk. However, rice was an imported luxury item reserved for the rich. Baked rice puddings featuring elaborate spices and other ingredients appeared in the 17th century. In the 18th century, rice pudding began to replace rye porridge and barley porridge at festivities in Scandinavia. Over centuries, the European recipe has been simplified, resulting in the modern dish often criticized for its blandness.

Rice pudding around the world

Rice puddings are found in nearly every area of the world. Recipes can greatly vary even within a single country. The dessert can be boiled or baked. Different types of pudding vary depending on preparation methods and the ingredients selected. The following ingredients are regularly found in rice puddings.

• rice; long or short grain white rice, brown rice, black rice, basmati, or jasmine rice
• milk; (whole milk, coconut milk, cream or evaporated)
• spices; (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger etc.),
• flavorings; (vanilla, orange, lemon, pistachio, rose water etc.),
• sweetener; (sugar, brown sugar, honey, sweetened condensed milk, fruit or syrups)
• eggs

The following is a short list of various rice puddings from different places.

East Asia

Technically, many types of rice-based dishes resembling rice pudding could be found in various countries in Southeast Asia, which many have Chinese influences. Owing to Chinese usage, they are almost never referred to as rice pudding by the local populations (whether ethnic Chinese origin or not) but instead called sweet rice porridge. The term pudding in various modern East Asian languages denotes a cornstarch or gelatin-based jelly-like set dessert, such as mango pudding.

• Khao niao dam (Thai, ข้าวเหนียวดำ) Black Rice Porridge
• Banana rice pudding (Cambodian)
• Pulut hitam (Malaysian/Singaporean) Black glutinous rice porridge
• Ketan hitam (Indonesia) similar to Malaysian counterpart
• Champorado (Philippines) Chocolate Rice pudding

Despite Japan and Korea being large consumers of rice, they do not have any porridge-based rice puddings; Instead they typically pound the rice into rice powder and make it into sweet rice cakes.

South Asia

Pulut hitam served in a Malaysian restaurant

• Kheer (Indian/Nepali/Pakistani) with slow-boiled milk
• Payasam (South Indian) with slow-boiled milk, sugar/jaggery and lots of nuts
• Firni (Tajik/North Indian) with broken rice, cardamom and pistachio, reduced to a paste, and served cold.

Middle East

• Moghlie (Arab) with anise and ginger
• Riz bi haleeb (Eastern) or ruz bil-laban (Egyptian), (lit. "rice-with-milk") (Arab) with rosewater and occasionally mastic
• Shola-e-zard (Tajik, Afghan and Iranian) with saffron
• Shir-berinj (Tajik, Afghan and Iranian) Rice pudding

Europe

Rice pudding (Arroz Doce) in a typical Christmas meal, in Portugal

Lapa is a typical rice pudding with black poppy seeds for the region of Kocani, Republic of Macedonia.

Sütlaç, rice pudding, is a traditional dessert in Turkey.

• Arroz Doce or Arroz de Leite (Portuguese) with rice, sugar, milk, cinnamon and lemon
• Budino di Riso (Italian) with milk, eggs, raisins and orange peel
• Arroz con leche (Spanish) with milk, sugar, It's possible with cinnamon and lemon too
• Сутлијаш (Macedonian) - Лапа - typical rice pudding with black poppy seeds
• Milchreis (German) with cinnamon or cherries
• Mlečni riž (Slovene)
• Mliečna ryža (Slovak)
• Mляко с ориз (Bulgarian) with milk and cinnamon
• Orez cu lapte (Romanian) with milk and cinnamon
• Rijstebrij (Dutch) or Rijstpap (Flemish)
• Riskrem (Norwegian) especially popular at Christmas
• Rizogalo or Ryzogalo (ρυζόγαλο 'rice milk', Greek) with milk and cinnamon.
• Sütlaç (Turkish < sütlaş < sütlü aş 'rice with milk'), served either hot or cold; often browned in a salamander broiler and garnished with cinnamon. May be sweetened with sugar or pekmez or not.
• Сутлијаш/Sutlijaš (Serbian)
• Sutlija (Bosnian)
• Riža na mlijeku (Croatian)
• Сутляш or Мляко с ориз (Bulgarian)
• Sytl(i)jash (Albanian)
• Oriz na vareniku (Montenegrin)
• Tameloriz (Albanian in Kosovo)
• Teurgoule (Normandy)
• Tejberizs (Hungarian) with milk, cinnamon or cocoa powder
• Молочная рисовая каша (Russian)
• Молочна рисова каша (Ukrainian), also can appear as "кутя" for Christmas (served with dried fruits and nuts)
• Risgrynsgröt (Swedish), served at the Christmas table and during the winter months
• Grjónagrautur (Icelandic), every day meal, served with cinnamon, sugar and raisins.

Latin America and Caribbean

• Arroz con leche/Arroz de leche/Arroz con dulce/Sweet rice
• Arroz-doce (Brazilian) with milk, sugar, and cinnamon
• Arroz con leche (Chilean and Mexican) with milk, lemon zest, cinnamon, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, raisins (soaked in sherry wine or tequila), and butter
• Arroz con leche (Colombian) with milk, cream, sugar, coffee, raisins (soaked in rum, pisco or red wine), butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves
• Arroz con leche (Costa Rican) with milk, condensed milk, butter, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla
• Arroz con leche (Cuban) with evaporated milk or milk, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, and lemon zest and sometimes raisins, sweetened condensed milk, anise seed can be added
• Arroz con leche (Dominican Republic) with milk, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and star anise
• Rice pudding (Jamaican) with milk, egg yolk, allspice, sugar, raisins (soaked in rum), vanilla, butter, sometimes crushed meringue, toasted coconut flakes, cornstarch, and crushed pineapples can be added
• Arroz con leche (Peruvian) with milk, sugar, orange peel, raisins (soaked in port wine or brandy), egg yolk, cloves, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, and vanilla and sometimes shredded coconut and walnuts can be added
• Arroz con dulce (Puerto Rican) with coconut milk, coconut cream, butter, cloves, ginger, raisins (soaked in rum), vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, milk and sometimes shredded coconut, nutmeg and lemon zest can be added
• Sweet rice (Trinidadian) with coconut milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, raisins, vanilla, and angostura bitter
• Arroz con leche (Uruguayan) with milk, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon
• Arroz con leche (Venezuelan) with milk, heavy cream, condensed milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and lemon peel

The Nordic countries

In the Nordic countries, rice porridge is a common dinner. It is made as a warm dish from rice cooked in milk and occasionally mixed with raisins. When served, it is commonly sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar or with an 'eye' of butter in the middle. In Iceland it is sometimes served with cold slátur (Template:Lang-en, a type of blood sausage, see þorramatur). In the different languages it is called risengrød (Danish), risengrynsgrøt (Norwegian), risgrynsgröt (Swedish), riisipuuro (Finnish), Grjónagrautur (Icelandic), hrísgrjónagrautur (Icelandic)

The rice porridge dinner is used as a basis for rice cream dessert. There are many different variants of this dessert but the basis is the same. Cold rice porridge (the dinner variant) is mixed with whipped cream and something sweet. In Sweden it is sometimes mixed with oranges and is then called apelsinris. Ris á l'amande (Danish, after French: Riz à l'amande, rice with almonds) is the cold risengrød with whipped cream, vanilla, and chopped almonds, often served with hot or chilled cherry (or strawberry) sauce. In Norwegian, the dessert is called riskrem and sometimes served with red sauce (usually made from strawberries or raspberries). Rice cream dessert is called ris à la Malta in Sweden, while what is referred to as risgrynspudding is made with eggs instead of cream.

In Scandinavia, rice pudding has long Christmas traditions. It sometimes goes by the names julegröt/julegrøt/julegrød (Yule porridge), or tomtegröt/nissegrød (see tomte). The latter name is due to the old tradition of sharing the meal with the guardian of the homestead, called tomte or nisse (see also blót).

A particular tradition that is often associated with eating rice pudding or porridge in the Christmas time is hiding a whole almond in the porridge. In Sweden and Finland, popular belief has it that the one who eats the almond will be married the following year, whereas in Norway, Denmark and Iceland the one who finds it will get a prize, the almond present. In Denmark and Norway the almond tradition is usually done with Ris á l'amande served as dessert at Julefrokost (Christmas lunch) or on Christmas Eve, while in Sweden and Finland it is more commonly done with a rice porridge dinner, sometimes a few days before Christmas Eve.

North America

In Canada and the United States, most recipes have descended from European immigrants. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American recipes have become more common. In the New England region of the United States, the most popular pudding is made with long grain rice, milk, sugar, or in Vermont, maple syrup. This is combined with nutmeg, cinnamon, and raisins. The pudding is usually partially cooked on top of the stove in a double boiler, and then "finished" in an oven.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, rice pudding is a traditional dessert, and is very popular. Rice pudding is traditionally made with pudding rice, milk, cream, sugar and is often, but not always, flavoured with vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon. It can be made in two ways, in a saucepan or by baking in the oven. In a saucepan, it is made by gently simmering the milk and rice until tender and then the sugar is carefully mixed in. Finally, the cream is mixed in and it can either be left to cool and be served at room temperature, or it can be heated and served hot, it should have a very creamy consistency. When made in the oven, the pudding rice is placed into a baking dish and the milk, cream and sugar are mixed in. The dish is then placed in the oven and baked at a low temperature for a few hours, until the rice is tender and the pudding has a creamy consistency. Whilst cooking, the pudding may develop a thick crust which adds an interesting texture to the pudding. An alternative recipe, frequently used in the North of England, uses butter instead of cream, adds a small pinch of salt and requires the pudding mixture to stand for an hour or so prior to being cooked. Such puddings tend to set firmly when cooled, enabling slices to be cut and eaten like cake. If eaten hot, the pudding was traditionally served with cream poured on top in wealthy households, and with full fat milk where cream was not available. Placing a spoonful of sweet jam or conserve onto the pudding is also a very popular topping. Ready-made rice pudding, which is pre-cooked and ready to eat, is sold in tin cans or pots and is very widely available and found in most supermarkets and shops. Because it is canned, it has a very long shelf life.

Rice pudding in literature

Rice pudding is mentioned frequently in literature of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, typically in the context of a cheap, plain, familiar food, often served to children or invalids, and often rendered boring by too-frequent inclusion in menus.

In Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Kenelm Chillingly, a would-be host reassures a prospective guest: "Don't fear that you shall have only mutton-chops and a rice-pudding...". In Henry James' A Passionate Pilgrim, the narrator laments: "having dreamed of lamb and spinach and a salade de saison, I sat down in penitence to a mutton-chop and a rice pudding."

Charles Dickens relates an incident of shabby treatment in A Schoolboy's Story: "it was imposing on Old Cheeseman to give him nothing but boiled mutton through a whole Vacation, but that was just like the system. When they didn't give him boiled mutton, they gave him rice pudding, pretending it was a treat. And saved the butcher."

In Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians, the children express dissatisfaction with their food. "My father and Esther... are having roast fowl, three vegetables, and four kinds of pudding", Pip says angrily. "It isn't fair!" His sister notes that "we had dinner at one o'clock." "Boiled mutton and carrots and rice pudding!" her brother replies, witheringly.

Rice Pudding is the title and subject of a poem by A. A. Milne, in which the narrator professes puzzlement as to what is the matter with Mary Jane, who is "crying with all her might and main/And she won't eat her dinner—rice pudding again—/What is the matter with Mary Jane?" As the poem proceeds, the reader comes to suspect that Mary Jane's problem is connected with the word "again."

Rice pudding is mentioned with much more affection in an incident related by Walt Whitman in Specimen Days. Whitman visited an invalid soldier who "was very sick, with no appetite... he confess'd that he had a hankering for a good home-made rice pudding—thought he could relish it better than anything... I soon procured B. his rice pudding. A Washington lady, (Mrs. O'C.), hearing his wish, made the pudding herself, and I took it up to him the next day. He subsequently told me he lived upon it for three or four days."

In the play Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, Thomasina Coverly uses the example of stirring jam into rice pudding as an illustration of chaos. She wonders why it isn't possible to separate the jam from the pudding by stirring backwards. Her tutor Septimus Hodge asserts that it is because our universe is deterministic, according to the theories of Isaac Newton.

In Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the supercomputer Deep Thought derives the existence of rice pudding from first principles. This is to counterpoint between the complexity of Deep Thought and its task of exploring the eternal verities, with simplicity of the pudding.

Notes

• The New York Times, August 4, 1884, p. 2, "Living on a Small Salary."
• "Betty's Rice Pudding" recipe from Northern UK
• Cooking in Common:Rice pudding
• History of Puddings
• Arab cuisine
• A Malaysian Food Heritage
• Black rice pudding
• Macedonian rice pudding
• Ozan, Ozcan (2001) The Sultan's Kitchen, Periplus Editions. ISBN 962-593-223-2
• Movie: Candleshoe, Walt Disney Pictures, 1978, ISBN 0-7888-5158-6