Vanilla rice pudding with mandarins and mint

Babiche Martens

Ingredients

5 Tbsp	Short grain rice (Main)
2 Tbsp	Caster sugar
2 cups	Milk
1	Vanilla bean
½ cup	Cream
1	Egg
3 tsp	Butter
2	Cardamom pods
4	Mandarins
3 tsp	Cointreau
4 leaves	Mint leaves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease a 750ml baking dish. In a bowl combine the rice and sugar then tip into the dish.
2. Pour over the milk. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the cream, add the egg, whisk all together and add to the dish.
3. Gently press the cardamom pods but don't release the seeds and bury in the rice.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, stir then continue cooking for another hour.
5. Peel the mandarins, removing as much pith as possible, mix with the liqueur and put in a bowl. Shred the mint leaves and scatter over the mandarins.