Recipe Arroz con Leche - Spanish Rice Pudding

blades

blades

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Rice pudding can be found in many cuisines. This version is the way my Cuban mother used to make it. The recipe is from memory so I apologize if I left something out.

Ingredients

1/2 cup short grained rice. Arborio works well for me.
4 cups whole milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar. Adjust to your preference
2 sticks cinnamon
3 capsful vanilla extract
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
ground cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Instructions

Put everything in a large pot, bring to a light boil and then cover and simmer for about 45 minutes stirring ocasionally. Remove cinnamon sticks and transfer to a loaf pan as I show here or to individual cups. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Cool and refrigerate.
 
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Oh so delicious! I like the use of spices and raisins

Rice pudding is an old UK favourite which dates back centuries. It seems to have fallen out of fashion but maybe it will make a come-back. I love it. Traditionally, its baked in the oven here.
 
karadekoolaid said:
"Arroz con leche,
me quiero casar
con una señorita de la capital."
Well known children's song! My MIL used to make it. She absolutely loved the stuff.
It's a very popular dessert here.
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It was huge in Cuba. It was a very popular dessert. Cubans also love flan, guayaba con quest crema and coco glace which was coconut ice cream served in a half coconut shell. We had a coconut tree as well as a mango tree in the back yard. I remember picking mangos from it as a child. The coconuts were out of reach. One of these days I need to get a Spanish keyboard so I can write Spanish properly. I don't have access to accents and tildes. :)
 
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Rice pudding was the only way we ate rice when I was a kid. I still love it.
 
TastyReuben said:
Rice pudding was the only way we ate rice when I was a kid. I still love it.
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We ate a lot of rice in Cuba. It was even common fare for breakfast. A typical breakfast at our house was mango or mamey, croissants and saffron rice topped with a fried egg. We would wash it down with cafe con leche. Rice was a common dinner dish very often. But we loved our rice pudding as well. I serve rice around here now at least 3 times per week.
 
blades said:
We ate a lot of rice in Cuba. It was even common fare for breakfast. A typical breakfast at our house was mango or mamey, croissants and saffron rice topped with a fried egg. We would wash it down with cafe con leche. Rice was a common dinner dish very often. But we loved our rice pudding as well
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I like flan. My dad LOVES flan. He ate a lot of it when he lived in Puerto Rico. They had two mango trees in the backyard. You could walk out in the morning, pick a ripe one, and have it for breakfast. Yum!

CD
 
Morning Glory said:
What is the flan you refer to? :scratchhead:
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Flan is a Spanish custard with caramelized sugar cooked on the bottom, and then flipped so it runs down the custard. I can't believe you haven't had it. It is Spanish in origin, and popular in Latin American areas, including Cuba/Puerto Rico and Mexico.

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CD
 
caseydog said:
Flan is a Spanish custard with caramelized sugar cooked on the bottom, and then flipped so it runs down the custard. I can't believe you haven't had it. It is Spanish in origin, and popular in Latin American areas, including Cuba/Puerto Rico and Mexico.

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CD
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Ah - that is known as crème caramel over here! Its one of my favourite desserts.
 
Morning Glory said:
The name is French and it came from France, so we didn't name it. Maybe the French renamed it?
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This got me curious, so I looked...

The Roman Empire is the true origin of this dessert. The word flan is the French equivalent of the Latin word fladon, which comes from the Old High German word “flado,” meaning “flat cake.”

Spaniards took it to America, where it became a delicacy. Due to the Mexican’s heavy influence on the recipe evolved there and became today’s sweet staple.

Both crème caramel ("caramel cream") and flan are French names, but flan has come to have different meanings in different regions.

In Spanish-speaking countries and often in the United States, crème caramel is known as flan. This was originally a Spanish-language usage, but the dish is now best known in North America in a Latin American context. Elsewhere, a flan is a type of tart somewhat like a quiche.

CD
 
caseydog said:
Ah, I forgot that you Brits like to rename things from other countries.
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Venezuela does that too. Here it's known as "quesillo". Same thing, different name. My wife makes one with coconut milk that is just phenomenal.
We also prefer Pepsi over Coke, and had Betamax when everyone else used VHS.
 
During WWII fresh milk was hard to find in Cuba. So the flan was made with canned evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. It caught on and I make it that way today. I don't know why they used sweetened condensed milk since sugar has always been abundant on the island. Food moves in whatever ways people need it to move.
 
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