Milk Rice Pudding

In Finland rice is traditionally used quite differently to the Asian countries where it is present at every meal. For Finns potato is the main side dish, but rice is also used in a variety of dishes including rice porridge, which is cooked with milk and no sugar and served as a light meal with berry soup. The sweet and creamy rice pudding reminds me of this dish so I decided to make something in between: a milk rice pudding that doesn't have the heavy cream and is not loaded with sugar, but can still be served as a dessert. This is fully gluten-free and can also be made lactose free.

Milk Rice Pudding
(Recipe adapted from taste.com.au)
Serves 2

600ml low fat milk
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
(zest of one orange, finely grated)
80g white short or medium grain rice
fresh or frozen berries to serve

Place milk, sugar and vanilla sugar (and orange zest) in a saucepan and bring to boil. Stir in the rice, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked and the pudding has thickened. Remember to stir often and add a bit of water if the pudding is getting too thick. Serve warm or room temperature with fresh or frozen berries.

Serve with berries