Mexican rice pudding with honeycomb
I like that in Mexico the rice for rice pudding is first cooked in water. Even though cooked rice is then mixed with milk and condensed milk, the rice still tastes clean and not claggy. This is common everywhere, but I once had a rice pudding with a sprinkling of honeycomb on top which was particularly satisfying.
SERVES 6-8
225g short-grain rice
5cm cinnamon stick 550ml whole milk
250ml condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
FOR THE HONEYCOMB
10g butter
75g golden syrup
200g caster sugar
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
TO SERVE
½ tsp ground cinnamon, for sprinkling
2 ripe mangoes, peeled, stoned and cut into slivers
1 FOR THE HONEYCOMB Grease a baking tray with the butter and set it aside. Put the golden syrup and caster sugar in a large saucepan and let it dissolve over a low heat until you can’t see the sugar crystals. Turn up the heat and cook until the mixture is a deep caramel colour. Turn off the heat and immediately add the bicarbonate of soda. Stir to mix well while it bubbles and foams, then pour the mixture on to the greased baking tray and leave it to cool for 1–1½ hours. Break it into shards and store in an airtight container between sheets of baking parchment for up to a week.
2 Put the rice in a sieve, wash it well under cold running water, then drain. Tip the rice into a saucepan, add the cinnamon stick and 700ml of water, then bring to the boil. Cover the pan, turn the heat down and cook slowly for 10–15 minutes until the rice is tender. Most of the water should have been absorbed, but if not drain it away and discard. Remove the cinnamon stick.
3 Add the milk and condensed milk to the pan with the rice and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and cook gently for 5–7 minutes until the rice is fairly thick and creamy. Stir in the vanilla extract. Remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for 5 minutes.
4 Serve hot or cold, sprinkled with ground cinnamon, shards of honeycomb and slivers of mango. If you’re serving the pudding hot, the honeycomb will melt into the rice very quickly, so it’s better to offer it separately at the table.