[Bernhard]

I would just use water and add a powred non-dairy coffee creamer with a high quality margarine . And if you add some blueberries or chopped peaches for additional flavor and color to your rice pudding you might never know that there is no milk in your pudding.
Please let us know what you where going to do, OK ?

[OregonYeti]

A preference I have--to me, rice pudding is just not the same without a bit of cardamom. I prefer green cardamom for rice pudding (as opposed to other cardamom). Well heck, I prefer green cardamom to white or black for most things.

[IslandGirl]

Originally Posted by Bernhard

I would just use water and add a powred non-dairy coffee creamer with a high quality margarine . And if you add some blueberries or chopped peaches for additional flavor and color to your rice pudding you might never know that there is no milk in your pudding.
Please let us know what you where going to do, OK ?

Ugh! both powdered non-dairy creamer and (most) margarines are loaded with hydrogenated fat. If you're cooking for someone with a medical condition, I'd seriously consider leaving out the boatload of transfats...

The berries are a nice idea (assuming you can't use the traditional raisins. As for the extra fat, consider a little milkfat, commonly known as butter. A knob of that as a finisher, whatever cow-dairy-free pseudo milk product you end up using, will be very tasty indeed. And if you use coconut milk, it comes with plenty of natural fat already.

Hope this all works out for you.

[boar_d_laze]

Jude,

Agree with you regarding the non-dairy creamer and margarine, for flavor and texture reasons, as much as health. However, the OP specified no dairy products, so butter is completely out. Butter isn't an important part of rice pudding anyway I think Bernhard was trying to add some mouthfeel.

BDL

[IslandGirl]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Jude,

Agree with you regarding the non-dairy creamer and margarine, for flavor and texture reasons, as much as health. However, the OP specified no dairy products, so butter is completely out. Butter isn't an important part of rice pudding anyway I think Bernhard was trying to add some mouthfeel.

BDL

Just a fine point, but the vast majority of dairy intolerant folks can and do handle butterfat, just not the protein (casein) and/or milksugar (lactose), and particularly either clarified butter or ghee, which contain no milk proteins or sugars.

Me, I like the coconut milk, but it DOES depend on the brand, they vary strongly in amount of "coconut flavour" they carry. I prefer it to either almond or (ugh!) soy milk, though I haven't tried the rice milk (or for that matter, the potato based product I spotted recently).

Ta.

[OregonYeti]

Hey, don't disparage soy milk unless you've tried Pacific Ultra Soy, plain. I love that stuff, even tho I don't like the others I've tasted

On cold cereal, I prefer that soy milk to regular milk. It's thicker and has great flavor.

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by IslandGirl

Just a fine point, but the vast majority of dairy intolerant folks can and do handle butterfat, just not the protein (casein) and/or milksugar (lactose), and particularly either clarified butter or ghee, which contain no milk proteins or sugars.

The OP specified "all milk products" were to be excluded for her friend's health reasons. Hard learned experience tells me that when someone specifies "no," it's better to just go with it than try and educate her to her own or her loved ones' health issues. Not that I haven't tried; but the reception was always poor, as though not only the advice but the giving it were presumptuous.

Go figure,
BDL

[IslandGirl]

Originally Posted by OregonYeti

Hey, don't disparage soy milk unless you've tried Pacific Ultra Soy, plain. I love that stuff, even tho I don't like the others I've tasted

On cold cereal, I prefer that soy milk to regular milk. It's thicker and has great flavor.

If I ever run across it, here in the wild true north, I'll give it a shot. I'm not optimistic, but I am openminded!