Coconut Black Rice Pudding

This is an indonesian desert that I only decided I liked quite recently.  My grand mother is (half) indonesian, and is such a good cook. She always makes the most delicious dishes; even if I have no idea what some of them are, I always devour whatever she makes with great pleasure (which is  saying something coming from me, as Im quite picky with foods). I've had this black rice pudding three times in the last six months (twice by my Oma, once at a Nonya, a expensive, but truly wonderful restaurant in Montreal) and have decided that yes, I do like this dish. And crave it. So I made it, and had it for breakfast today :)

Warning, the rice needs to be soaked in a bowl of water overnight, so don't read this expecting to be able to make it in the next half hour.

Serves 6.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup black glutinous rice

1/2 cup white sticky rice (optional)

2 cups or 1 can coconut milk

1/3 cup palm sugar (or brown sugar)

coconut cream for garnishing 

These ingredients can be found as asian supermarkets. You can make this without the white sticky rice if you don't have any handy, most recipes don't call for it at all. You can replace the palm sugar with regular brown sugar. Also, I only used 400ml/1 can of milk instead of the full two cups that the recipe called for, because I didnt want to open a second can. The pudding was still delicious and pudding-like, so I think it's safe to do without the extra 100ml if you're cheap and lazy like me. :)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place rice in a bowl, cover well with water, cover, and let stand overnight. Drain.
2. Place rice in a pot of boiling water, and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes. Drain.
3. Combine rice, coconut milk and sugar in the pot. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes, or until thickened to porridge-like consistency. (low/med. heat should be plenty for this, as it's now milk, now water you're simmering.)
4. Serve drizzled with a little coconut cream.
   

TIPS

This pudding I find is best served warm, but it's not bad cold either. I also find it best in small portions. If you don't eat it all right after making it, you can refrigerate it and microwave it for nom-nomming later on.

At stage 3 of directions: simmer all ingredients in a pot.

As you can see, the earlier boiling of the rice is can be messy.