Recipe: »Spiced Rice Pudding«

Recipe: »Spiced Rice Pudding with Poached Pears & Cinnamon Meringues«

Ingredients: 

For the Rice Pudding:

• 100g pudding rice
• 60g caster sugar
• 700ml semi-skimmed milk (you can use any milk here, including dairy alternative if you wish)
• 0,5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 bay leave

For the Meringues:

• 1,5 egg whites
• 85g caster sugar

For the Pears:

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 200g sugar
• 1l water

Preparation:

1. For this recipe, it is a good idea to make the meringues first as you will need the oven later to cook the rice pudding. You can make the meringues up to 5 days in advance and keep them in an air tight container until you need them.
2. Preheat your oven to 100°C fan/ 120°Cl.
3. For the meringue, whisk the egg whites and sugar in a clean bowl with an electric whisk until stiff peaks form, about 6-8 minutes. Sprinkle in the ground cinnamon and whisk for a further few minutes until it is well mixed in.
4. Put the meringue mix into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe small swirls of meringue (roughly 4 cm diameter) onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 1hr 15 minutes until the meringues are crisp on the outside. Turn the oven off and let the meringues cool in there before taking them out of the oven.
5. When you are ready to make the pudding, grease an oven proof dish and wash the rice under cold water.
6. Put all of the rice pudding ingredients in the dish and cook at 130°C fan/ 150°C for 1 hour, until the milk is absorbed, the pudding is thick and set but still has a wobble to it.
7. While the pudding is cooking, peel the pears (keeping them whole). In a deep saucepan, put in the water and sugar, then the whole pears. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a light simmer until the pears are soft and cooked through. Take them off the heat and let them sit in the poaching liquid until everything is ready.
8. To serve, spoon some rice pudding into bowls, top with a half of a poached pear and then finish with a few of the cinnamon meringues. You could also crush the meringues over the top if you prefer.