The absolute most delicious rice pudding. Warm flavors of chai and with rice lusciously cooked until creamy. Served warm or cold this rice pudding is what sweet dreams are made of.
6tablespoonsunsalted buttersoften to room temperature
1/2cupheavy cream
1pinchkosher salt
Instructions
For the Spiced Chai Rice Pudding:
Start by rinsing the rice 3 times over running water, discarding the milky water.
On the last rinse, leave enough water to cover the rice for like 1 inch over the top of the rice.
Let the rice soak overnight or for a minimum of 4-5 hours.
After it has soaked, strain the rice and reserve the water it soaked in.
In a small sauce pan, combine the milk, evaporated milk, sugar and the chai tea packets.
Heat on medium high until the the chai has steeped into the milk and before it simmers.
When the milk mixture has heated enough, squeeze every drop out of each tea bag to ensure all this chai flavors infuse the milk.
In a larger size pan, on medium high heat, combine the rice with 1 tablespoon of butter, melt the butter into the rice and allow it to get coated with the butter.
After the butter has been melted into the rice completely, add the reserved water.
Lower the temperature to medium and stir constantly for 8-10 minutes until the water has almost completely evaporated.
After the rice is almost completely dry, add the chai milk mixture and stir well.
Lower the heat once more now to medium low or even lower if you feel the rice is heavily heated. Now contstantly stir the rice. You can take little breaks but the key is to not allow the mixture to come to a simmer just yet.
Keep stirring almost constantly for 10-15 minutes.
This will be steady for the first 10-15 minutes of this cooking process. As time goes on, the mixture will heat more and will start reaching simmering temperatures.
As soon as the mixture reaches a slow simmer, remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few seconds, all the while still stirring it.
Return the pot to the heat and keep stirring. The mixture will reach a simmer quicker this time.
The key it to continue to cook the rice all the while not having a strong simmer, the simmer should be controlled.
This will take another 10-12 minutes of the constant "simmer babysitting".
After the 10-12 minutes have passed, remove the pot from the heat. With a separate spoon, try the rice. It will not be very sweet but focus on the texture.
The rice should be soft all the way through the middle. If there is even one hint of hardness then return to the heat and continue cooking until it has reached a point where to is undeniably soft.
Once the rice is absolutely cooked through and through, remove from the heat.
Add the condensed milk and the vanilla. Stir well until completely incorporated.
Place plastic film over the rice pudding so it doesn’t create a film. Set aside
For the caramel sauce:
Add the sugar in a medium size pot.
Let the sugar start to melt until is slowly starts to turn color.
The sugar will melt unevenly so it is important to remove the pan from the heat and swirl the pot to help the sugar melt evenly without parts getting burned.
Allow all the sugar to turn amber colored and slowly add the butter, one tablespoon at at time. Use a whisk to stir the butter in.
After the butter has been all mixed in, turn off the heat and add the heavy cream. This will create a lot of steam, be careful an whisk it in carefully yet quickly as it needs to be incorporated at once.
Once the heavy cream is well mixed and incorporated into the caramel, allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Pour the caramel sauce onto a bowl or gravy boat. The longer the caramel rests, the thicker it becomes.
Serving this Spiced Chai Rice Pudding:
I like to serve this dessert in individual servings.
Choose a small glass or ramequins for individual servings.
Pour the caramel sauce on to the bottom of the serving dish of your choosing. about 2 tablespoons per serving.
Allow the caramel to sit and harden for at least 10 minutes before pouring the rice pudding on top of it.
After the caramel has thickened and is harder to the touch, top it with about a 1/2 cup of the rice pudding.
Serve warm or cold, it is entirely up to your liking.
ENJOY!
Recipe Video Instructions
Notes
When making the caramel be very careful as the temperatures reached are very high. When adding the butter and heavy cream, a lot of steam is created so sometimes using an oven mitt can help protect your hands.