093 / 100 · Sweet and Unhurried

Vanilla Rice Pudding with Roasted Plums

4 dessert portions Active 15 min Total 1 hr

Roasted plums bring a tart, jewel-colored contrast to a slow pot of vanilla rice pudding. The rice cooks directly in milk, releasing starch that makes the mixture creamy without eggs. Stir more often near the end, when the thickening pudding is most likely to catch on the bottom of the pan. The plums roast while the rice simmers, making the two parts easy to coordinate. Serve them together warm, with the purple juices spooned across the pale pudding rather than fully stirred in.

Jump to the ingredients

Vanilla rice pudding topped with roasted plum halves and their purple juices.

Use a rice that releases starch

Short-grain white rice gives this pudding a creamy consistency while keeping a little shape. Long-grain rice produces a looser, less cohesive result, and brown rice would need a different quantity of liquid and much more time. Keep the milk at a gentle simmer: a hard boil can scorch the bottom or spill over the pot. Scrape the base with a flexible spatula whenever you stir.

Roast according to ripeness

Firm plums may need the full twenty-five minutes, while ripe ones can soften much sooner. Look for tender flesh and juices beginning to gather in the dish, not a dried edge. The pudding will continue to thicken off the heat. If it stands while the fruit finishes, stir in a little warm milk to bring it back to a soft, spoonable texture. A cool version is pleasant too, provided the rice pudding is chilled promptly in shallow containers rather than left in the warm saucepan.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup short-grain white rice (100 g)
  • 3 cups whole milk (720 ml), plus a little for loosening
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream (120 ml)
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar (65 g)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
  • 6 small plums, halved and pitted (about 450 g prepared)
  • 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon unsalted butter (5 g)

Set out

Medium heavy saucepan, Small roasting dish, Flexible spatula

Allergens

Milk. Check ingredient labels and substitutions.

Make it

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Put the rice, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a heavy saucepan.
  2. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, stirring. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 35–45 minutes, stirring every few minutes and more frequently toward the end, until the rice is tender and the liquid is creamy.
  3. Meanwhile, butter a small roasting dish with the teaspoon of butter. Set the plums cut-side up in it and drizzle with the maple syrup.
  4. Roast for 20–25 minutes, until tender with juices collecting in the dish. Check earlier if the fruit is very ripe.
  5. If the pudding is thicker than you like, stir in a little warm milk. Divide among four bowls.
  6. Top with the roasted plums and spoon over their juices. Serve warm, or chill both components promptly and serve cold.

A useful detail

Do not rinse the rice for this pudding; its surface starch helps thicken the milk.

Make it your own

  • Use halved apricots instead of plums, checking after 15 minutes of roasting.
  • Replace the vanilla with 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest, added during the final 5 minutes of simmering.

Keep it well

Divide into shallow containers and refrigerate promptly within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F/32°C, at 40°F/4°C or colder for up to 3 days. Keep the fruit separately if possible. Reheat pudding once to 165°F/74°C, adding milk, or serve it chilled.