I've loved messing about in the kitchen, baking, ever since I was a kid. Now that I am an adult who can't eat wheat or dairy and chooses alternatives to sugar, I have even more of a reason to bake. When you have to read the ingredients labels on food like I do, you realise that there is a whole lot of extra crap in there. Yet more reasons to make-it yourself!
I came up with this recipe a few years back when I had a sudden yen for rice pudding. Since I can't have milk I replaced it with coconut milk. Drawing on my Sri Lankan heritage, I then added in some tropical spices to compliment the coconut milk. Coconuts are huge in Sri Lanka. They are used for everything – in cooking, building walls in the garden and even as a loofah when giving an elephant a bath in the river. True story – saw it with my own eyes!
I really love the creamy and zesty taste of this pudding. You can substitute quinoa for the rice which I did for this one. It would make it lower GI and add some protein to the mix. If you don't have kitul palm treacle, agave syrup and maple syrup also work well.
Tropical Rice Pudding
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
3 cardamom pods
1.5cm strip lemon zest
1/4 cup kitul palm treacle
Shake cinnamon
1/4 cup arborio rice
Preheat oven to 140 C (248 F).
Mix the coconut milk, cardamom, lemon zest, treacle and cinnamon together in an oven proof dish with a lid.
Add rice and stir.
Put on lid and cook for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.
This makes four smallish serves but you may not want to share as it is super delicious.
Enjoy!
