I have included a recipe for dulce de leche, the caramelised condensed milk Argentinians seem addicted to. I made it and although it needed constant attention for the 2 hours of cooking, it wasn’t difficult and I liked the result. Highlander brand condensed milk does a caramel version in a tin and this is a pretty good, not to mention inexpensive, approximation of dulce de leche. This makes boiling a can of condensed milk until caramelised a bit superfluous. Otherwise you can buy an imported brand of dulce de leche which will be more expensive.
Rice pudding
| 1 Ltr | Milk, full cream |
| 500 ml | Cream |
| 1 pinch | Salt |
| 1 | Cinnamon stick |
| 1 | Lemon, zested |
| ½ cup | Sugar |
| ½ cup | Short grain rice (Main) |
Almond crumbs
| 75 g | Butter |
| ¼ cup | Sugar |
| ½ cup | Flour |
| ½ cup | Sliced almonds (Main) |
Pears and dulce de leche
| 3 large | Pears, peeled, quartered and cored (Main) |
| 4 Tbsp | Caster sugar |
| 500 ml | Water |
| 1 Tbsp | Lemon juice |
| 1 Ltr | Milk, full cream (Main) |
| 300 g | Caster sugar |
| 1 pinch | Baking soda |
| 1 tsp | Pure vanilla extract |
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Directions
Rice pudding
- Put everything, but only half the cream, into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 25-30 minutes, stirring frequently until the rice is tender and the mixture has thickened and is creamy.
- Remove from the heat, discard the cinnamon stick and allow to cool, then chill.
- Whip the remainder of the cream and reserve.
Almond crumbs
- Heat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Put the butter, sugar and flour into a food processor and process well to form a mixture with a gravel-like texture. Alternatively, place the butter, sugar and flour in a bowl and rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips.
- Place in a bowl and stir in the sliced almonds.
- Sprinkle the mixture on to the tray in a thin layer. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, cool and break up any big lumps. Reserve.
Pears
- Put pears, 4 tablespoons caster sugar, water and tablespoon lemon juice into a saucepan over moderate heat. Bring to the boil and simmer 30 minutes or until the liquid is syrupy and the pears tender.
Dulce de leche
- Put milk, 300g caster sugar, baking soda and vanilla extract into a heavy-based saucepan and gently bring to the boil. Turn the heat down so the mixture is just simmering and simmer 2 hours or until thick, shiny and dark golden brown in colour. You will need to lower the temperature as the mixture reduces and gets thicker.
- Remove from the heat and cool. This makes about 1½ cups and it will keep covered in the fridge for a month.
To serve
Serve the chilled rice pudding with some pears, a dollop of dulce de leche (or Highlander's caramel condensed milk), a sprinkling of the almond crumbs and some whipped cream.
