Black rice pudding

Black rice pudding is creamy, vegan, and gluten-free ~ Indonesian cuisine mostly served for breakfast or dessert. Each country has its own way of rice pudding. Some add egg to rice pudding; some bake it. Black rice pudding is prepared with only three ingredients, rice, coconut milk, and coconut sugar.

Food for the thought

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” –Barack Obama

Benefits of the ingredients (source)

• Black rice is full of antioxidants, protects heart health, and is a good source of fiber.
• Coconut milk reduces inflammation, fights virus and bacteria, and decrease stomach ulcer.

Variations

Coconut milk: use any nut milk or dairy milk.
Sweetener: brown sugar, maple syrup, stevia, agave nectar, or any sweetener can be used.
Flavor: add cardamon powder for Asian flavor or any extract you like.

Video for Black rice pudding

Questions and Tips for perfect black rice pudding

What is black rice?

Black rice has a dark purple color, denser than white rice, and is mostly cultivated in Asia. Black rice is also called forbidden rice, an emperor’s rice.  Forbidden rice earned its name because it was once reserved for the Chinese emperor to ensure his health and longevity and was forbidden to anyone else.

Is black rice a superfood?

Yes. It is the only rice to contain the antioxidant known as anthocyanins, found in dark-hued fruits and vegetables like blueberries, blackberries, purple brinjals, and purple cabbage,…Nutritionist Dhvani Shah says, “Black rice contains high amounts of antioxidants, minerals, and other
anti-inflammatory nutrients.

How to make black rice pudding?

This is a less ingredient recipe. Importantly, soak the black rice overnight(highly recommended), rinse it well, and pressure cook for 20 minutes with coconut milk and coconut sugar. Though it looks so simple, it takes time to cook.

Should I soak the rice for pudding?

Yes, for sure. After soaking overnight, too, it takes a longer time to cook. I usually soak in hot water overnight and cook in the morning. However, if you don’t mind a long cooking time, you can soak for an hour or a couple of hours.

Can I use different rice?

This particular recipe calls for black rice. Moreover, rice pudding can be done with any variety of rice. If keeping white rice, no soaking is required and cut the cooking time to half. Brown rice may need one hour of soaking. It depends on what type of rice you are cooking.

Methods of cooking pudding

You can cook rice pudding in an Instant pot, pressure cook method, or stove-top. The first two methods are easy, with no standing time, no mixing, and less time. You can make rice pudding on the stovetop too.

• Stovetop method Dilute coconut milk with water and bring to a boil. When it starts to boil, add the soaked and drained rice. Cook until rice is cooked 3/4th, add coconut sugar, and cook until rice turns soft and the consistency of the pudding. It takes one to one and half hours in the stovetop method.
• Pressure cook method mix soaked rice, water, coconut milk, and coconut sugar, and pressure cook on high to medium for 20 minutes.
• Instant pot method Combine all the ingredients and pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. For more pudding consistency, I love to keep it in porridge mode for another 20 minutes. This turns out to be a perfect consistency.

Consistency of the rice pudding

The consistency of the rice pudding should be creamy. If you think the rice pudding is watery, wait for some time. Once cooled, the pudding will be thick. If too thick, add some coconut milk.

Serving Indonesian black rice pudding

You can serve black rice pudding as such or top it with some bananas, caramelized bananas, nuts, or coconuts.

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Recipe card for black rice pudding