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Hola hungry ladies,

as I am munching on my latest obsession I figured I better hurry up and share it with all of you before it is all gone and I cannot snap a photo of it.

Growing up one of my favorite deserts was rice milk pudding with cinnamon and vanilla. Rice pudding is a traditional treat in many cultures and every single culture has its own spin on it.

I have been craving it for a while and I love every variation of it. I have to say that the Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Thai and of course the Japanese versions I have had the chance to try are my favorite.

So feel free to experiment and try different ways of preparing it.

My version is a fusion recipe that is super simple to make. I keep it low fat, free of processed sugar, higher in protein yet full of flavor and obviously full of nutrition and antioxidants in particular.

For this recipe you will need:

• 0.5 Cup of Black Rice (you can use sticky rice, glutenous rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice (if you prefer a less puddingy consistency), short grain rice, etc.; even millet can work)
• 0.5 cup of mung beans (I had a bag of sprouted mung beans and that tasted amazing) (adzuki beans or yellow lentils/split peas can work as well)
• A few sweet potatoes. I love purple sweet potatoes but the white ones are just as good. I don’t care for the orange sweet potatoes so I’d say skip those if you cannot find white or purple or Japanese sweet potatoes.
• Water – enough to cook it until soft which takes 30-40 minutes max.

OPTIONAL:

• Tapioca pearls,
• Cauliflower florets (yep- they add nutrition and they are pretty bland in flavor so they wont make it taste odd)

Spices/extras:

I love my Vanilla Stevia or Toffee stevia – this is the brand I get  (maple syrup. palm sugar, jaggery, etc will taste amazing as well)

Coconut Milk – I prefer the Almond breeze almond coconut one.

I generally do not add other spices because I want it to be coconut-ie but feel free to add vanilla,  cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, rose water, etc.

I pour the coconut milk on top while I am serving it because if i cook with it it tends to lose it’s creamy flavor.

That’s it. It is very easy to make… as easy as boiling water and it is extremely satisfying.

Black rice has an amazing nutritional profile – it is higher in protein, fiber, iron and calcium than white rice plus it is loaded with antioxidants. Traditionally it is used to support the function of the kidneys and it is considered a longevity food.

Let me know what your version of rice pudding is.