Recipes Winter

Cardamom rice pudding

The first thing I learned to make without asking. It wants low heat and a long book.

ServesFour, or two twice TimeAbout an hour Best withSomething you're rereading

Ingredients

  • ½ cup short-grain rice
  • 4 cups whole milk
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • 8 cardamom pods, cracked
  • 1 strip of orange peel
  • pinch salt
  • to finish pistachios, rosewater if you like it

Method

  1. Rinse the rice until the water runs nearly clear. Put it in a heavy pot with the milk, cardamom, orange peel, and salt.
  2. Bring to the edge of a simmer, then lower the heat as far as it will go. Stir every few pages. Do not walk away for a chapter.
  3. After forty minutes or so the rice will have given up and the milk will have thickened. Add the sugar and cook ten minutes more.
  4. Fish out the peel and pods. Spoon into bowls warm, or chill overnight if you have the patience. Scatter pistachios over the top.

If it catches on the bottom, it was the book's fault.

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