113Rice pudding

Method

Classic stovetop home version. Serve chilled or at cool room temperature.

You will need

• heavy-bottomed saucepan
• balloon whisk
• wooden spoon
• individual dessert bowls

1. Place the rinsed short-grain rice, 350 ml of water, and a pinch of salt into a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. 2 min
2. Simmer gently until the rice has absorbed almost all the water and is tender to the bite. 10 min Ready when: rice is soft and water is absorbed
3. Pour in 900 ml of the milk and the sugar, stirring continuously over medium heat until the milk comes to a gentle simmer. 8 min Ready when: gentle steam and small bubbles around edges
4. Whisk the cornflour into the remaining 100 ml of cold milk until completely smooth, then pour this slurry into the simmering saucepan. 2 min Ready when: slurry is lump-free
5. Cook over low-medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent catching on the base, until the mixture thickens into a glossy, loose custard coating the spoon. 5 min Ready when: thickens to coat the back of a spoon
6. Remove the saucepan from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract, and immediately ladle into 6 individual shallow bowls. 3 min
7. Allow to cool to room temperature, dust generously with ground cinnamon, and chill in the refrigerator before serving. 60 min Ready when: set with a delicate skin on top

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Make ahead and storing

Can be made up to 2 days in advance; keep refrigerated with cling film directly on the surface if skin formation is not wanted.

Fridge for up to 4 days.

Substitutions

• arborio rice for short-grain rice (glace or Carolina). Releases ample starch and produces an equally creamy texture.
• goat's milk for full-fat cow's milk. Traditional in pastoral regions, giving a distinctive tangy richness.

Common mistakes

• Adding the milk before the rice has softened in water. Sugar and milk hinder starch softening, leaving the rice grains hard and chalky.
• Leaving the pot unattended after adding the cornflour. The starch settles quickly to the bottom and burns, ruining the whole batch with a scorched flavour.

Regional variants

• Oven-baked rizogalo fyprou with an egg yolk whisked in and browned under a grill
• Peloponnesian variation flavoured with a piece of lemon peel simmered in the milk

About the dish

Rizogalo is Greece's universal dairy dessert, sold in traditional galaktopoleia (milk shops) and prepared regularly in domestic kitchens. The dish evolved from pastoral milk-preserving cookery and broader Mediterranean rice-and-milk traditions. Most Greek home cooks rely on short-grain Carolina rice cooked first in water until tender, then simmered with whole milk and thickened lightly with a slurry of cornflour, scented with vanilla and generously dusted with ground cassia or cinnamon when chilled in individual bowls.

Found in all of Greece. Cooked for everyday.

Cousins elsewhere

• Sütlaç (Turkish). Both are milk and short-grain rice puddings, though Turkish fırın sütlaç is traditionally browned under a grill.
• Roz bi haleeb (Levantine). A regional cousin often scented with orange blossom water or mastic rather than dusted with ground cinnamon.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

298 kcal · protein 6.8 g · fat 5.8 g (saturated 3.3 g) · carbohydrate 54.5 g (sugars 33.9 g) · fibre 0.6 g · sodium 78 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. Rooted in traditional Greek dairy parlour (galaktopoleio) methods using cornflour for a clean, stable set..