For me rice pudding = childhood. When I was a kid, pasteurized milk in plastic jugs or carton boxes didn’t exist. In the city, where I grew up, my mom used to buy daily milk in glass bottles. In the southern coast countryside, where I spent every summer with my grandparents, we used to buy raw milk in gallons. On the arrival day of the milkman, the kitchen would be in full production mode. As soon as the fresh milk arrived, my grandma would set her cauldron size pot on the stove and bring all of the milk to a boil. Most of the time the milk got used to make yogurt and sometimes (which were the best times), half of the milk would be kept to make rice pudding. To this day, I can remember the fragrant smell of rice cooking with milk filling the whole house.

Rice pudding gets a bad rep. When I told Cesar that I was going to make rice pudding, he had a slightly hopeless look on his face. I could see his eyes screaming, “whyyyy?” A lot of people think rice pudding is this bland dish with no depth of flavor but wait until my recipe knocks your socks off. I got this recipe from my mom who adapted it from her grandmother’s recipe. It has the history of four generations. Indeed, when Cesar finally tasted the end result, the first think he said was “this is not rice pudding, this is crack pudding!”

I decided to make this rice pudding two ways. The first way is the home style version which is my favorite and got voted as Cesar’s favorite too. The second way is the bakery/restaurant style rice pudding in which the pudding is baked for a caramelized crust. The end result is a bit more visually pleasing, has a smoky, burnt flavor but is a lot less creamy. I love the creaminess of the home style version, served cold with cinnamon on top. You can make a batch of rice pudding and put a couple of the bowls in the oven and decide for yourself which one you like better.

Tips:

* I really like using jasmine rice for this recipe. It is fragrant and it adds a depth of flavor to the pudding. I would not recommend basmati rice, sushi rice or risotto rice.

* I use 2% pasteurized cow milk in this recipe. You can also use whole milk and 1%. I would not recommend non-fat milk. A little bit of fat helps make this a very creamy pudding. You can also use raw cow milk but make sure to boil it for at least 15-20 minutes before you get started with my recipe. I have never tried this recipe using other kinds of milk like goat milk, almond milk, coconut milk etc. If you do, please comment below and let me know how it turns out.

* Mastic, also called mastic gum and arabic gum, is the resin of the mastic tree. In Turkish we call it damla sakizi which translates into “teardrop gum”. The sap of the tree is dried which results in a translucent crystal like resin (see the photo). It is very aromatic, with a flavor like pine and cedar trees. You can find mastic in specialty spice shops, Middle Eastern, Turkish or Greek grocery stores or on Amazon. I love the piney flavor that mastic adds to the rice pudding. It might sound weird but it works wonders. But, it is also completely fine to omit it from the recipe.

* There are a lot of rice pudding recipes out there that use cornstarch as a thickening agent. I call those fake puddings. They save you 10 mins but you end up losing a lot of depth in flavor. This recipe thickens naturally with the starch of rice and by the water in the milk evaporating over time.

Yields: 8-10 8 oz ramekin bowls Time: 40 mins (+20 mins for baked version)

Ingredients

1 cup jasmine rice*

1 1/2 cup water

6 1/3 cup 2% milk*

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 pieces of mastic (optional)*

Preparation

1. Rinse the rice and transfer to a pot. Pour in the water, cover the lid and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let cook for 8-10 minutes. The rice absorbs the water pretty quickly, pay close attention to ensure the rice is not burning.

2. While the rice is cooking, pour all the milk in a separate pot. Bring the milk to a boil, stirring often. Boiling milk overflows very easily, keep an eye on the heat and reduce it if too high.

3. After the rice is done, transfer the rice, with all of the remaining water (if any) into the pot with boiling milk. Cook, while stirring constantly for 15-20 minutes. After 20 mins the milk should start thickening. If it hasn’t continue cooking until it thickens. If you stop stirring the milk can burn very easily.

4. Once the milk has thickened, add in the sugar and the salt. Smash the mastic piece with the back of a spoon and add into the pudding.

5. Continue stirring and let the pudding simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

6. Transfer to bowls or ramekins while hot.

For home style rice pudding:

7. Let cool down until room temperature and transfer to the fridge. Serve with ground cinnamon sprinkled on top.

For the restaurant style, baked rice pudding:

7. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

8. Transfer the ramekin with hot pudding on a baking tray. If not using ramekins, make sure your bowls are oven safe. Fill the baking tray with cool tap water until the water reaches almost half the height of the ramekin.

9. Bake for 15 minutes on the top rack of the oven. In the last 5 minutes, turn on the broiler to 400 degrees F. Broil until browned. The browning happens really fast so I recommend keeping an eye on the pudding to avoid burning it.

10. Let it cool and transfer to the fridge. Serve with ground cinnamon sprinkled on top.