Sweet on rice

Your favourite, ever faithful dinner companion — rice — gets a dessert makeover

Rice is one of the most eaten foods on the planet, accompanying stir-fries and curries or forming the basis of congee, fried rice or risotto. Not everyone thinks dessert when they find a packet of arborio at the back of the pantry but the nature of this versatile grain means it absorbs the creamy sweet liquid and subtle spices with ease, resulting in a soft, warm, comforting dessert that will impress friends. If you prefer the Asian-style black sticky rice pudding, which is a popular breakfast in Thailand, we have one of those for you too.

Baked rice pudding with vanilla caramel poached pears

SERVES 4

FOR THE RICE PUDDING:

100g short grain rice such as sushi or arborio

4 Tbsp sugar

4½ cups milk

Zest of ½ a lemon

Zest of ½ orange

1 whole nutmeg, to grate over

1 Tbsp butter

FOR THE PEARS:

½ vanilla pod

150 g sugar

75ml water

2 Beurre Bosc pears, peeled, halved and core removed

THE PUDDING:

1 Heat oven to 140C.

2 Place rice, sugar, milk, lemon and orange zest into an ovenproof dish. Mix well with a spoon then grate fresh nutmeg over the top. Put the butter in the middle of the pudding — this will melt and help form the golden skin — then place in the oven.

3 For the first hour, carefully stir the pudding at 20-minute intervals to help distribute the rice grains evenly. Bake for 2 hours.

4 Serve hot with vanilla caramel pears.

THE PEARS:

1 Split the vanilla pod in half and scrape the seeds out, rub the sugar into the seeds and pod. Place the sugar, vanilla pod and water in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer and cook to a golden caramel.

2 Remove from the heat, carefully pour in an additional 100ml of water.

3 Return to the heat and stir to form a smooth sauce.

4 Add pears and simmer for 15 minutes; turn over and cook a further 15 minutes.