End of Semester Coconut Rice Pudding

Yum.



When I lived in Maryland I worked with a lot of Philipino people and they made something like this. I never got their recipe, but when I had this one the Philipino dish was the first think I thought of. I have topped mine with fruit, but they usually topped theirs with some maple syrup and that was also delicious. I am not claiming my recipe is the authentic one, but it certainly reminds me of the Philipino food I had.

This is a great recipe because it is super simple and really diverse because you can put different toppings on it, so you could make it 100 different ways and impress people every time!

I made this one for an end of semester potluck, also known as a final, but in the English department once you get to a certain level there aren't really finals, just celebrations of the work done that semester. So, I made this for my creative writing final, in which we ate food and read and talked about each others' work. Quite nice.



Coconut Rice Pudding
1 3/4 C dry rice
1 can coconut cream (not milk, cream)
1/2 - 2/3 C sugar
Dash of vanilla
Fruit for topping

1. Cook the rice in a rice cooker, or however you do it. I used Jasmine rice, but any stickyish rice will do.

2. Right before the rice is done, mix the coconut cream, sugar, and vanilla in a sauce pan. Cook until the cream is about to boil.  *A note on the sugar. You can serve this dish warm or cold. If you are going to serve it cold, use a bit more sugar, if warm, then you don't need as much. You can taste sugar better when it's warm.

3. Once the rice is done and the cream has just about boiled, mix together in the sauce pan and cook for about 3-5 more minutes, until the rice has soaked up the cream mixture. If you are going to serve it hot, then you're done! Place on a place and serve with fruit on the side.

4. If you want to serve it cold, then press the remained into a 8in pan and chill in the fridge. Top with fruit just before serving. Once it is cold, it cuts nicely and you'll be able to serve it in small squares.

A note on fruit: this dish is best with fresh, ripe mango. I didn't have any fresh mango on hand, so I served it with some frozen mango and strawberries that I had in the freezer. And, like I said before, you could use maple syrup or any other topping you might like on this.