I apparently made this dish about five years ago as an amalgamation of different recipes from Indian cookbooks, probably because I was working with the amount of dairy I had to spare. Rice Pudding is a great way to use up leftover rice as well as any odds and ends of different kinds of milk.

When I recently made this for a potluck, I had leftover amounts of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream, and whole milk, so this batch as seen in the photos here) turned out to be more like a rice cinco leches with Indian spices once I topped off the leftover dairy with soy milk.

A kind person at the potluck said, “Just shoot this into my veins. I need it intravenously,” so something must have worked out well here. Feel free to play around with the ingredient amounts and add more spices, sugar, or other ingredients to taste.

2 c. cooked rice
6 c. total milk, cream, soy/oat milk, evaporated milk, and/or sweetened condensed milk*
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. saffron threads
8 cardamom pods*
4-5 whole cloves*
1 3-inch stick cinnamon (or more)*
2 tbs. golden raisins
1/4 c. chopped or sliced almonds
1/3 c. sugar

*You can use 6 cups of whole milk. This is a useful recipe if you have some cream or other types of milk leftover from other recipes and you need to use them up. If you add any sweetened condensed milk, you can add less of the thinner milk(s) and add the condensed milk at the end so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

**Put the whole spices into a loose-leaf tea bag or cheesecloth to make them easier to fish out after cooking, as they will be invisible in opaque liquid. As an alternative, you can use more ground spices.

Mix the rice, cream, milk, and spices in a medium saucepan and simmer on medium-low heat, stirring frequently so the dairy doesn’t scald. Continue to simmer until at least 1/4 of the total mass evaporates and/or it thickens considerably.

Add the raisins and almonds. Add the sugar (and any sweetened condensed milk) last. 

Take off the heat and allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least a couple hours before eating.