Rice Pudding

 

 

Many countries have rice puddings, but a sweet pudding of this kind has been so much eaten in Britain since the eighteenth century that it seemed for a while almost a national dish. The British version is at its best when the cream is allowed to bake into a toasty skin on the surface.

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 2, 150 centigrade. Take a 25cm diameter, 5cm deep oven proof dish and grease it well with butter. Pour in the pudding rice and sugar. Mix the whole milk and evaporated milk together in a jug and pour over the rice. Gently stir to ensure that everything is well mixed. Grate the whole nutmeg evenly over the surface, don't be shy it needs all of it. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and dot around on the surface.

Place the dish on the centre shelf of the oven and cook for 30 minutes. After this carefully pull the dish out from the oven (pulling the shelf partly out) and stir well. Return to the oven for a further 30 minutes. Stir one more time and then leave for a final hour to thicken and for the brown skin to form.