Have you ever heard of milk rice pudding? When the days get shorter I find myself craving warm and sweet comfort food. That is why I was thinking a lot about dishes I enjoyed as a child like the yeasty and super thin German pan cakes with apple sauce my mum made or the creamy milk rice she served with cinnamon and sugar.

Another favorite, especially among my husband and his siblings, is milk rice pudding. Its the humble milk rice taken to another level. Although this looks like a desert, it is in fact a sweet dish that would traditionally be eaten for lunch. So no need to feel bad: you can enjoy a whole plate on a rainy Sunday noon! This makes 4 servings but honestly: if my husband is really hungry he can almost eat all if this in his own, so I always make double the amount 🙂

Milk rice pudding is a true comfort food. And that also means you’ll need quite some time for the preparation.

What you need to make Milk Rice Pudding

Time you need:

Preparation Milk Rice: 40 min
Preparation Pudding: 10 min
Time in the Oven: 30 min

Ingredients you need:

250g round grain rice
1l Milk
1 Pinch of Salt
1 Vanilla pod or the equivalent in vanilla essence
180g Sugar
3 Eggs
150 g Butter
Zest of half a lemon

What you need to do:

First, prepare the milk rice. Combine the rice, milk and 80 grams of sugar in a big pot and bring that to a boil on a medium high heat. Keep an eye on it o it doesn’t boil over. Let it cook for 2 minutes, than lower the heat and let everything sit for 30 min. Keep stirring every couple of minutes.

Once the milk rice is soft to the tooth, take it of the stove and let it cool until it is only sightly warm to the touch.

This is actually 2 dishes in one. If you don’t have time you can eat the milk rice with apple sauce or stewed fruit just like it is!

Meanwhile beat the eggs until foamy. Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add those to the eggs together with the sugar. Let the pod steep in the cooking milk rice for some extra flavor. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Beat the eggs and remaining sugar until the mixture has a distinctively lighter color and is smooth and silky. Now add the salt, lemon zest and melted butter.

Grease a deep baking dish and stir together your egg mixture and the milk rice. Fill everything into the baking dish and dust it with sugar, then bake it for half an hour.

Serve it warm with you favorite stewed fruit or apple sauce and cinnamon and sugar. Enjoy!