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.

Salted Caramel Granola

 

Ok...there isn't really caramel in the recipe, it's actually honey, but "Salted Honey" just isn't as popular, and besides, the honey does caramelize a bit, and it ends up being caramel colored.

I have really, really been enjoying my Green Smoothies for breakfast, but sometimes I'd like something a bit crunchier for breakfast. Also, I love granola as a snack during long days: the salt, the sweet, the cold milk, all combine for a great snack on a hot day, or for a quick lunch when I don't feel like cooking.





I was a little nervous to make the granola, because every time previously I had tried to make granola, I always burned it. But, I learned my lesson and here's the secret: when you are baking the granola stir it every 10 minutes. Simple enough, it just means you'll be in and out of the kitchen for half an hour or so. Or, you can do like I do, and get a good book and sit by the oven.

The measurements below are estimates, and really you could use more or less of any ingredient, as preferred, though if you add or subtract a lot of any dry ingredients, measure out the wet ingredients accordingly.

Salted Caramel Granola
3 1/2 C Old fashioned oats
1/2 C Flax seed
1/2 C shredded coconut
1/2 C Slivered almonds
1/2 C Sunflower seeds
2 Hearty dashes cinnamon (or to taste)
1/2 C Honey (actually, just a bit more than 1/2 C)
1/2 C Olive Oil (slightly less, certainly no more than, 1/2 C)
2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of table salt
1/2 C Raisins
1 Tbs (or to taste) coarse sea salt or kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325.

1. Mix oats, flax, coconut, almonds, seeds, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.

2. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, honey, vanilla, and table salt.

3. Thoroughly mix the wet ingredients with the dry, making sure that the oats, etc, are entirely coated.

4. Spread the mixture in a shallow baking pan lined with parchment paper.

5. Bake the granola for 30-40 min, until the whole thing is a caramelly golden brown. Stir every 10 minutes! Stirring is very important to make sure that the granola is cooked evenly and not burned.

6. As soon as you have taken the granola out of the oven, sprinkle the sea salt evenly over whole thing. This does make it pretty salty, so if you don't like salty sweet things, you can leave this out entirely. Mix in the salt.

7. Sprinkle the raisins over the granola and stir them in, then let the granola cool.





If you'd like to see more pictures of the granola check out the other blog