Ingredients

• 200g Arborio or Carnaroli Rice
• 400ml Coconut Milk
• 600ml 2% Milk
• 225g Sugar (plus extra for torching)
• 1tsp Ground Nutmeg (freshly grated)
• 1tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 75g Unsalted Butter

Instructions

1. Place the sugar, milk, coconut milk, and cinnamon into a pan, and cook under medium high heat until the mixture comes to a boil.
2. Heat a wide surface saute pan under medium high heat, add your butter until melted and golden brown, add your rice and toast for 1-2mins till lightly toasted and aromatic.
3. Add all your milk and coconut mixture to your saute pan with your toasted rice, and cook while regularly stirring with a rubber spatula for approximately 25mins, until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and is cooked through.  Add your vanilla and nutmeg to finish and stir through.  Remove cinnamon stick.
4. Pour your rice pudding into a heat proof vessel, and allow to cool before refrigerating.
5. When chilled and set, remove your rice pudding from the fridge 1-2hr before serving.  Lightly coat the surface with sugar, and using a blow torch caramelize the surface.  Repeat this process two to three more times until the surface is an even golden brown and you have a even caramel coating on top.

Notes:

• I prefer using starchier varieties of rice for making rice pudding (such as the ones used for risottos), as the starch within the rice will release during cooking producing a creamier and more velvety final product.
• The continuous stirring of the rice during cooking helps do two things.  One, it helps distribute the heat from bottom of the pan, allowing the rice to cook more evenly.  Second, the stirring motion agitates the rice which helps release the starch, giving you a smoother and creamier end product.
• You could substitute the coconut milk with regular cream, but I prefer coconut milk as it has a better and more pronounced flavour.
• The ratio of liquid to rice when making rice pudding is roughly 5:1.  So you can scale and adjust the recipe accordingly to your taste modifying the type and variety of liquid used.
• When cooking your rice, the rice should be fully cooked and soft and not al dente like tpyical risotto.  If after 25mins your rice isn’t fully cooked and you’ve run out of liquid, just add some more warm milk and continue cooking till the rice is cooked through and soft.
• A rubber spatula is preferred over a wooden spoon when stirring the mixture during cooking.  The simple reason is a rubber spatula will allow you to catch the corner and sides of the pan better than a wooden spoon, so you won’t have any scorch bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
• The addition of the vanilla extract and nutmeg at the end is to prevent the flavours from being completely homogenized and muted during cooking, producing a more fragrant end product.