is rice porridge the same as rice pudding

Rice porridge is the quintessential Caribbean breakfast. Thick, creamy porridge is enhanced with vanilla, almond, and warm spices. Learn how to make easy rice porridge on the stove or in the Instant Pot with this versatile recipe.

Rice porridge wasn’t a dish my family made often (we were cornmeal or oats porridge kind of people), but it was a dish I enjoyed whenever I visited my granny Inez. This recipe is for my friend Asha, this was her favorite type of porridge. Asha and I often share stories about the foods we enjoyed during our childhood, especially the ones our granny made.

Recently she reminisced that her granny made the most delicious porridge. It was creamy and well spiced and she still longs for it in her adulthood. It was Asha’s memories of rice porridge that prompted me to share this recipe. Thank you, Asha.

So is it a porridge or a pudding? To my mind it is definitely a pudding if it is served after as a dessert and a porridge if it is served in the morning. However many people prefer to call it a porridge whenever it is served. Rice porridge/pudding has been an important dish in Sweden for centuries.

What is rice porridge?

Rice porridge is a mixture of rice and water, simmered until thick and creamy. The dish has significantly more liquid than rice, resulting in a porridge.

It is also very similar to Guyanese Sweet Rice or Kheer, but uses different spices and is not quite as rich as kheer.

This recipe includes milk but you can make it completely. dairy-free by skipping the evaporated milk and milk powder at the end.

• Water: Use this as your liquid base when cooking the rice.
• Spices: I use cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and grated nutmeg, for a warm, fragrant, spiced porridge. Add an optional ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon for even more flavor.
• Dried Orange Peel: This adds a bit of brightness to the porridge.
• Long grain white rice: When my grandmother made rice porridge she used broken rice. I am using long grain rice that is pulsed in a food processor to make broken rice.
• Salt: This balances out the other flavors.
• Vanilla extract and almond extract: Using extracts adds another layer of flavor that deepens the overall taste.
• Coconut milk Milk: Coconut milk adds to the flavor of the porridge. At it in the end to preserve the creaminess.
• Demarara Sugar (not photographed): This is the sugar we use in Guyana so I typical use that in nostalgic recipes but you can use any sweetener you like.
• Evaporated Milk (not photographed): This optional ingredient makes the porridge very creamy.
• Powdered Milk (not photographed): Want to add even more creaminess to the porridge add a bit of milk powder and mix it in before serving.

See recipe card for quantities.

As fond as my memories may be, I havent enjoyed this childhood favorite in quite some time at the start of my day. However, my interest in the notion of rice in the morning was reinvigorated by a trip to the Philippines where I was introduced to champorado, a chocolate rice porridge commonly served at breakfast. And even on my flight to Manila I was served juk, a Korean type of congee, which itself can be found across much of Asia in numerous iterations. Upon further research, Ghana has what they simply call the “rice water” to reflect the main ingredients, theres a version in Jamaica that often is thickened with a slurry and flavored with coconut milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and even our very own Minnesota has the largely unknown outside the state Mahnomin porridge, which is composed of wild rice, cream, berries, nuts, and syrup.

Some of the recipes I researched call for leftover rice while others begin with uncooked grains. The cooking liquid required for each includes water, coconut milk, dairy, and combinations thereof, incorporated in varying ratios of starch to liquid and resulting in an array of consistencies. As for flavorings and add-ins, only the sky is the limit.

Another factor is the use of already-cooked rice in this meal. Its my observation that some people cant fathom the idea of eating leftovers. Particularly among the urban set thats presumed to have only beer and condiments in their fridges, to have fresh meals each day is an indicator of wealth and status, whereas saving what you have for another time in lieu of throwing it in the trash is the opposite. Explaining to acquaintances that Im able to feed myself multiple home-cooked meals a week by cooking only once or twice during that period often brings a confounded look to their faces. Yet when others use the term “meal prep” it all seems to make sense and even connotes a “healthy” lifestyle.

At home, that is somewhat of a different story. A common breakfast dish from my childhood was cooked rice, milk (usually of the canned and evaporated variety), butter, and sugar. I didnt realize it at the time, but now I recognize it as rice pudding, more or less. Some may scoff at the notion of eating whats typically considered a dessert for breakfast, but swap out the rice for oats and what do you have? Exactly.

People often joke about only being able to eat rice and beans during rent week because they are cheap and affordable. Carrying that over to the restaurant world, it makes sense that most diners wouldnt want to pay for a rice porridge dish what a chef would want to—and should—charge them. Even in conversation and food culture, rice porridge is not something lauded by the Instagram set or self-proclaimed foodies. Instead, it is viewed as something only consumed when finances are tight. The word porridge itself—also referred to as gruel—conjures pictures of prisons, starving orphans, and staving off malnutrition, making it clear why the dining public would see a “real chef” serving such a dish as a waste of her talent.

the most amazing rice pudding/ rice porridge| sweet rice| full recipe

FAQ

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