Mango-Raisin Rice Pudding

I should go on sabbatical more often! When I took a break from blogging near the beginning of August, I had just over 3,700 page views. As I write these words, that figure has doubled. It seems that my most faithful readers are Google’s “bots.” They troll the Web looking for trouble. It used to be that I invited guests into my kitchen to serve them cookies. Now that I’m inviting you to my cooking blog, Google’s probably serving us all cookies.

Heaven forbid that I should publish a recipe for President’s Cake or Cherry Bombe. Thanks to those “bots,” Homeland Security would be on my case so fast that I wouldn’t know where to turn. Let’s assume I followed up with a recipe for Red Velvet Cake. The CIA (“Spread ‘em!”) would probably accuse me of being in Putin’s pocket (“These handcuffs are chafing my wrists!”). I hope I never slip up and print any tabouleh or falafel recipes. Ron might have a hard time raising enough bail to get me out of the slammer. 

With the approach of fall, it’s becoming darker earlier, in the time zone (and the hemisphere) where I live. This is a great relief. My wrinkles are less prominent under candle light. As the days grow darker, everyone starts to think about comfort food. Most of the comfort of “comfort food” comes from using a finger or spoon to scrape the bowl. 

And so I present the ultimate comfort food: My simple and very tasty recipe for Mango-Raisin Rice Pudding. I make it in the rice cooker, which - as regular readers of this blog already know - just happens to be one of my favorite small appliances. When I recently made it for Ron, he gobbled up three portions! And that was just for breakfast! Here’s my recipe, Dollinks! I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Mango-Raisin Rice Pudding:

3 - 4 c. cooked leftover long-grain white rice (not instant)

5 - 6 c. water (see Note)

½ tsp. salt

10 oz. (300 mL) can sweetened condensed milk (1-1/4 c.)

¼ c. heavy cream (33% milk fat)

⅓ c. granulated sugar

¼ tsp. nutmeg

½ c. dried, chopped mangos

½ c. raisins

3 tbsp. almond-flavored liqueur (“amaretto”)

Combine cooked leftover rice with water, salt, sweetened condensed milk, cream, sugar, and nutmeg in pot or rice cooker. Cook uncovered, stirring frequently over medium heat until water boils down and rice appears “gummy,” 20 - 35 minutes. Add dried, chopped mangos and raisins. Turn heat to low. Cover and continue cooking 5 min. more, until slightly thickened. Remove from heat; add amaretto liqueur. Cover and let sit 5 - 10 min. Serve warm or cold. Makes 8 - 10 servings. 

Note: Judging how much water to add depends on how dessicated your cooked leftover rice has become. I’d kept mine in the fridge for a couple of days; it was quite dry, so I added a larger quantity of water than my recipe normally calls for. 

Stir milk and cream into rice and water

Sweeten the pot with a touch of sugar

Cook, uncovered, until mixture thickens slightly

Stir in mangos and raisins

Amaretto's nice, but vanilla's tasty, too!

So easy, so good, and so comforting on a cool day!