Rice Pudding

I FINALLY made rice pudding!  I can't believe I've never made it before! I really like rice pudding but it's just not something I think about much.  I spotted a fancy recipe on Mel's Kitchen cafe and simplified it, and I love the results.  I've made this about 5 times since I found it 2 months ago.  I'm just using leftover jasmine rice from meals- I'll freeze it in 2-cup amounts and thaw in the fridge a few hours before I plan on making rice pudding.

The first few times I made this, I used 4 cups half and half like stated in the recipe.  The last time, I used half whole milk and half half-and-half.  It tasted the same to me- just as rich and good. **3/29/2020 I made this again with ONLY whole or ONLY 2% milk and it was just as good!!  Now during the Coronavirus, I'm trying to save our fresh milk, so I made this just now with half evaporated milk (a regular can and a little can) and the rest 2% milk.  It's so rich with evaporated milk!!** Cinnamon isn't included in the recipe- sometimes I'll simmer a cinnamon stick with the rice, add ground cinnamon to the recipe as it cooks, or just sprinkle it on top for serving.  Or, you can just not use any cinnamon.  I've experimented with using some vanilla sugar in place of the regular sugar, too.

Rice Pudding 
adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

4 cups half-and-half (or a mix of half-and-half and whole milk)*
2 cups cooked medium grain rice (I use jasmine)
2/3 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten and brought to room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

cinnamon, optional

1.  Pour 3 1/2 cups of the half-and-half, cooked rice, sugar, and salt into a large 3 to 4 quart pot. Stir constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon or flat silicone spatula until the mixture thickens, 25-35 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2.  Place the beaten egg in a medium bowl. Slowly add a spoonful of the hot pudding to the egg, whisking vigorously and constantly. Continue to temper the egg with 3-4 more spoonfuls of the hot pudding, whisking constantly. Add the tempered pudding and egg mixture into the pot of hot rice pudding, stirring quickly to incorporate. Return the pot to medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture boils. Remove from the heat and stir in the last 1/2 cup of half-and-half and the vanilla extract. Sprinkle cinnamon on top; optional.

*Can use any milk or combo of milks.  Half and half, whole, 2%, and most recently, I used a mix of 2% and canned evaporated milk.  The evap. milk gave it a yellow-ish color, but it was SO thick and rich using the evap milk! I loved it.  

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