Recipe - Mexican Rice Pudding (Arroz Con Leche)

2 Inches cinnamon stick
A 2" strip of lime zest,
Three fourths " wide
1 cup Rice
1 qt Milk
Three fourths cup Sugar
One fourth teaspoon Salt
4 lg Egg yolks
One half teaspoon Vanilla extract
One fourth cup Raisins
1 tablespoon Unsalted butter,
cut into bits
Ground cinnamon, for garnish

1. The rice. Bring 2 cup water to boil in med saucepan, add cinn stick and
lime zest, cover and simmer over med heat for 5 min. Pour in rice, let mix
return to boil, stir once, then cover and cook over medlow heat for 20
min, until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

2. The pudding. Stir in milk, sugar, and salt and simmer over med to
medlow heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid shows the FIRST signs
of thickening, 2025 min. Take from the heat and remove the cinn stick and
zest. Beat the egg yolks until runny, stir in the vanilla and a few T of
the hot rice, the stir yolk concoction back into the rice mixture, Mix in
HALF the raisins, then spoon the rice pudding into a decorative 8"square
baking dish.

3. Browning and finishing the pudding. Preheat the broiler and dot the
rice pudding w/butter. Set the dish under the heat long enough to brown
the top, 3 or 4 min. Sprinkle with remaining raisins and the ground
cinnamon, and serve warm or at room temperature.

COOK'S NOTES:

Timing and Advance Preparation The rice pudding can be ready in an hour,
much of which won't involve your direct participation. It may be prepared
through Step 2 a day or two in advance, then buttered and broiled shortly
before serving.

Historical Notes:

Arroz con leche

This dessert is softer and more connamony than our baked rice pudding. The
flavors are simple and close to home, but it's easy to develop a
thoroughgoing love for it, spoonful after spoonful. mexican people
everywhere serve it as regularly as they do flan; it's creamy and, in its
own way, light and soothing.

This is an especially pretty and tasty recipe, based on one from
Zelayaran's Las 500 (quinentos) mejores recetas de la cocina mexicana. (The
500 best recipes of the Mexican Kitchen). Pronounced: Lahs keenyentoes
mayhorays reesetahs day lah kocheenah mayhikaanah. It would be
welcome after a hearty soup like Menudo (maynoodoe) or ShrimpBall soup;
it travels well to potlucks. Leftovers, thinned with milk and warmed, are
very good for breakfast.

Rice pudding brings to my mind the volatile, chancy crowd of Mexico City's
Garibaldi Square, where this dessert, only one of the attractions, sits in
huge, milky masses stuck with a raisin or two for decoration. Or sometimes
I am reminded of the wellused walkways around the Oaxacan (wahhockcan)
market, where ladies sell it in paper cups at sundown. Or I picture any of
a dozen other typical scenes: from rude, makeshift street stands to
wellappointed traditional restaurantswhere arroz con leche (airrose cone
letchay) (roll those double R's baby) is the thing you have.

Above text quoted from Authentic Mexican by the Baylesses.

holly "Holly D. Iles" holly@bga.com

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini