[BigFoot]

I have a dear relative who loves rice pudding and will be visiting me soon. Unhappily, on the eve of her visit, she developed a medical problem during the course of which all milk products are denied her. I would dearly love to make a rice pudding without milk. Since eggs are not forbidden, I wondered whether I could cook the rice in plenty of water, add a beaten egg, sugar, vanilla, and thicken it all with CORNSTARCH? Before making a mess, I thought to solicit some ideas from our board. Has anyone tried anything like this?

Please don't suggest soy milk, I loathe the stuff.

[Blueicus]

I would recommend using coconut milk as your milk substitute (I've never used it but perhaps almond milk would work too). I don't think that eggs without being tempered by dairy would taste particularly great.

[jbd]

Not sure if this will be of any help but you might get some ideas Customers want baked rice pudding more creamy!

One thought I had when initially reading your post was you may need to find a way to add some fat to the mix to replace what is not present from the lack of milk.

[boar_d_laze]

Soy milk, or "Rice Dream" would translate better than coconut milk -- although a wonderful coconut milk pudding could surely be made. Almond milk should, I think, be approached in moderation. Both soy milk and Rice Dream present more sweetness than animal milk -- so you'll have to cut the sugar down, by say a quarter, then add more to taste.

Another possibility -- although starting to move a little far afield -- would be to make an horchata sorbet or even an horchata colada. The point is not so much to make horchata, but that there's more than one way to get that rice-cinnamon goodness working . I'd try the horchata sorbet with a little smooth, aged rum and serve either shaped as quenelles or frozen in cocktail glasses, then topped with "non-dairy whipped topping."

BDL

[ED BUCHANAN]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Soy milk, or "Rice Dream" would translate better than coconut milk -- although a wonderful coconut milk pudding could surely be made. Almond milk should, I think, be approached in moderation. Both soy milk and Rice Dream present more sweetness than animal milk -- so you'll have to cut the sugar down, by say a quarter, then add more to taste.

Another possibility -- although starting to move a little far afield -- would be to make an horchata sorbet or even an horchata colada. The point is not so much to make horchata, but that there's more than one way to get that rice-cinnamon goodness working . I'd try the horchata sorbet with a little smooth, aged rum and serve either shaped as quenelles or frozen in cocktail glasses, then topped with "non-dairy whipped topping."

BDL

I have a friend who is lactose intolarent and I made him rice puddeing and egg nog useing carnation non dairy vanilla creamer liquid not powder.It surprised me that it really was not that bad. Like you I experiment all the time, who knows what we will discover ?

[TSC]

Soy milk is a great alternative. I use it a lot at home for rice pudding. In fact soy milk and brown rice ( cooking times need to be adjusted) gives a delicious ( somewhat healthy?) dish that had loads of texture.
For a more traditional rice pudd use the plain not vanilla as that has more sugar.
My sister is lactose intolerant and uses goats milk. This has come a long way in that last decade and yields a much less distinctive taste that soy if that is what you are looking for.
Good luck
TSC

[OregonYeti]

Try a variety of sweet rice with that coconut or soy milk. If you have it figured out in time for the visit, I am sure it will be tops. I grew up in eastern India, and I know that sweet rice varieties are delicious. So much aroma and sweetness in them--very different from the usual rice.

[BigFoot]

Originally Posted by OregonYeti

Try a variety of sweet rice

I never heard of "sweet rice." what name is it sold under and where can it be found?

[BigFoot]

Originally Posted by jbd

Not sure if this will be of any help but you might get some ideas Customers want baked rice pudding more creamy!

One thought I had when initially reading your post was you may need to find a way to add some fat to the mix to replace what is not present from the lack of milk.

What kind of fat for instance?

[jbd]

Originally Posted by BigFoot

What kind of fat for instance?

Given the circumstances you are working with, my first thought would be adding an extra egg yolk. Bear in mind I have no idea if it would work or not as I hve never made something like you are trying to accomplish.

My thinking is that the milk in the regular formula provides water, protein and fat. The water portion is easy enough to replace. Protein from milk is probably not that much to worry about so that leaves the fat to contend with. Fat missing from a dish that normally has it usually results in a dish with less than desirable mouth feel and less taste. Its one of the reasons, IMO, that so many of the fat free products, while possibly healthier are less appealing/tasty.

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by jbd

Given the circumstances you are working with, my first thought would be adding an extra egg yolk. Bear in mind I have no idea if it would work or not as I hve never made something like you are trying to accomplish.

My thinking is that the milk in the regular formula provides water, protein and fat. The water portion is easy enough to replace. Protein from milk is probably not that much to worry about so that leaves the fat to contend with. Fat missing from a dish that normally has it usually results in a dish with less than desirable mouth feel and less taste. Its one of the reasons, IMO, that so many of the fat free products, while possibly healthier are less appealing/tasty.

More yolk won't work to make it more creamy, instead it will make it set up denser. Sort of like an all-yolk omelette. "Creamy" comes from other things.

Your thinking of replacing the milk fat with fat from the egg yolk was a good line of thought, and makes sense. Alas, the the lipids and lipoproteins from the different sources act differently.

I'm afraid a rice pudding with extra egg-yolks replacing the milk might be a bit heavy.

BDL.

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by BigFoot

I never heard of "sweet rice." what name is it sold under and where can it be found?

"Sweet rice" isn't sweet. It's another name for "glutinous rice," and "sticky rice," and it's sold under a variety of different names. It's a very short, almost round grain with a lot of starch. It's called "sweet rice," because it's so desirable for puddings and other sweets. You can buy it at any Asian grocery.

Hope this helps,
BDL

[chefjohnpaul]

All these suggestions are good- the starch in your rice should be sufficient so I would not add any more starch to the recipe.

[OregonYeti]

I may be mistaken saying that "sweet rice" is sweet. There are so many varieties of rice that I might be talking about something else. What I had was tinged purple.

[boar_d_laze]

Yeti,

What you had was almost certainly Thai sticky rice aka "glutinous rice." It's sometimes called sweet rice, or purple sweet rice, Thai purple sweet rice, or all the same names with "sticky" in place of "seet." Nevertheless, same rice. If it gets just a little bit darker, it's called black rice -- and gets all the name variations.

By any name, it's sweeter than a long grain such as a Basmati or a Jasmine rice, or a mid-grain like CalRose. But it's nowhere near sweet enough to make a dessert without additional sweetening. It's "glutinous" not because it has gluten but because it sticks together.

It's probably used more often for desserts than savories, but it's used for a ton of those as well. One of the soon-tofu restaurants I go to, serves it plain, cooked in a stone pot. It's key in a special kind of fried rice with sausage and mushroom. Etc.

BDL