Brown Rice & Quinoa Rice Pudding Recipe

A healthy rice pudding made with a mix of quinoa and brown rice, cooked on the stove or baked in the oven. The combination of quinoa and brown rice moves familiar rice pudding into intriguing new territory, still very much comfort food but with an appealing nuttiness and tender (not mushy) texture.

If rice is the world’s most-consumed food, no surprise that rice pudding comes in country-by-country variations, something only a cookbook fanatic (who, me?) might notice. Around the world, rice pudding is the obvious answer to the question, What can we do with all this leftover rice?

Leftover rice stacks up and sits around at my house, thanks to an affinity for Oven-Baked Brown Rice, my adaptation of Cook’s Illustrated’s Fool-Proof Oven-Baked Brown Rice. I mix brown rice with other rices and grains, often my favorite Minnesota wild rice, most recently, some red quinoa.

One morning, I started to make a porridge from leftover rice and all of a sudden, the rice took over and turned itself into rice pudding! Thanks, rice, good idea. Very good idea!

ALANNA’s TIPS Any cooked rice will work fine but the brown rice and red quinoa combination is both tasty and pretty. Just make Oven-Baked Brown Rice, using 2 parts brown rice and 1 part quinoa.

Cooking rice pudding on the stovetop requires attention but the rice grains are extra plump and tender.

BROWN RICE & QUINOA RICE PUDDING

Homey dessert made healthy

Hands-on time: 5 minutes plus stirring
Time to table: 20 minutes
Makes 2 cups

2 cups cooked quinoa & brown rice (see TIPS)
2 cups skim milk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons dried currants

STOVETOP RICE PUDDING (my favorite, see TIPS) Combine quinoa-brown rice and milk in a heavy saucepan. Cook slowly on medium low heat until the milk is absorbed by the quinoa and rice. Stir occasionally at first, then more often and finally, toward the end, continuously. Midway, stir in maple syrup and currants. Serve hot from the stove.

OVEN-BAKED RICE PUDDING Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. With a slotted spoon, lift quinoa, rice and currants to divide among ramekins, then pour liquid over top. Bake for one hour, stirring after 30 and 45 minutes.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Half Cup: 190 Calories; 1g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 2mg Cholesterol; 67mg Sodium; 38g Carb; 2g Fiber; 15g Sugar; 7g Protein.

WEIGHT WATCHERS WW Old Points 3 & WW PointsPlus 5.

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.

Do you have a favorite rice pudding recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com.

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