Arroz con Leche, Spanish Cinnamon Rice Pudding
Arroz con leche is the rice pudding eaten across Spain, cooked down slow with a cinnamon stick and a curl of lemon peel until the grains all but dissolve. The traditional version leans on sugar and whole milk; this one takes its sweetness from dates blended to a paste and its body from short-grain brown rice, which keeps the bran that white rice loses. Soy milk stands in for the dairy and brings enough protein to make it a breakfast as much as a dessert. The lemon peel is not optional: its oil is what keeps a bowl of sweet rice from tasting flat. Make it a day ahead and let it set in the fridge.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup short grain brown rice
- 4 cups Unsweetened soy milk
- 5 Medjool dates, pitted
- 1/3 cup Raisins
- 1 stick Ceylon cinnamon, plus ground for dusting
- 1 Lemon, peel in wide strips
Method
- Rinse the rice, then bring it to a boil with the soy milk, cinnamon stick, and a couple of wide strips of lemon peel taken off with a peeler. Starting the rice in the milk rather than water means it swells slowly and gives up its starch into the liquid, which is what makes the pudding creamy with no cream.
- Drop the heat to low and simmer uncovered 40 to 45 minutes, stirring often and more near the end. Brown rice keeps its bran, so it takes longer than white and needs the stirring to stop it catching and to coax the starch out.
- While it cooks, blend the pitted dates with a splash of the warm milk from the pot into a smooth paste. Blending the dates rather than chopping them spreads the sweetness evenly instead of leaving it in pockets.
- When the rice is soft and the pudding coats a spoon, stir in the date paste and the raisins and cook 5 minutes more. Adding the sweetness at the end keeps the dates from scorching on the pan bottom, and the raisins plump in the residual heat.
- Fish out the cinnamon stick and lemon peel, spoon into bowls, and dust with ground cinnamon. It thickens as it cools, so serve it warm and loose or chilled and set, thinning a stiff batch with a splash of milk.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 235 calories, 7 g protein, 4 g fiber, 60 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
