Black Rice Pudding with Mango and Coconut Cream

Just got back from Chicago and after being plied with nothing but conference-food (bad coffee, endless storebought muffins, chips and the blandest fruit salads and palest melons to ever walk the land) for days all I wanted was a kale salad with avocados in it, cherries, and coconut water. Really I promise. In that order too. BUT then I also had to take into account my horrible-wonderful addiction to dessert with every meal (sometimes its fruit…sometimes its not) and so I made this lovely black rice pudding, and topped with it with fresh mangos and a generous dollop of coconut cream.

Black Rice Pudding with Mangoes and Coconut Cream

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This is a fairly easy thing to pull together. I’ve had savoury black rice before and have seen black rice pudding before on menus but never tried it before. There is nothing very different in taste despite its extreme blackness, it tastes similar to brown rice in that its nuttier and certainly has more texture than white rice pudding…but its a pleasant chewiness that goes well with all the creamy coconut things going on.
 
Fun fact, black rice is also called “Forbidden Rice” because legend has it that in China where it originated from it was considered so nutritious that only the emperors were allowed to eat it. Oooooh.
 
And in fact it is quite nutritious. Black rice is a source of iron, vitamin E, and incredibly has more antioxidants than blueberries! The blackness of the rice comes from its bran hull (outer layer) which has one of the highest levels of anthocyanin antioxidants found in food. Anthocyanins are naturally occurring pigments, usually in plants, and they are usually odorless and nearly tasteless, hence why black rice does not taste too different from regular brown rice. Interestingly (at least for me) anthocyanins “can be used as pH indicators since their colour changes with pH; they are pink in acidic solutions (pH < 7), purple in neutral solutions (pH ~ 7), greenish-yellow in alkaline solutions (pH > 7), and colourless in very alkaline solutions, where the pigment is completely reduced.[5].” I will now attempt to make pink lemon black rice pudding. Also, have clearly mastered Wikipedia if you can’t tell.

Black Rice Pudding with Mangoes and Coconut Cream

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This dessert is based on Thai coconut rice and mango, a dessert I love but usually have two complaints about, I wish the rice was rice pudding-er and I tend to wish the whole thing was a bit sweeter. So here the rice is plenty pudding like and sweetened enough that it contrasts nicely with the slight tartness of mango and the unsweetened rich fluffy coconut cream.

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RECIPE:
 
Black Rice Pudding with Mangoes and Coconut Cream
 
Serves 1-2
 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup of black rice
• 1 can of coconut cream, chilled in the fridge for at least a day
• 1 1/4 cup of almond milk
• 1/4 cup of coconut sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 fresh mango, sliced

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Separate 1/3 cup of the top of the coconut cream in a bowl. This will be used for topping the black rice pudding later and should be firm with the consistency of whipped cream. Set aside in the fridge.
2. Add the black rice, almond milk, coconut sugar, pinch of salt and 1/2 cup of the rest of the coconut cream to a pan over medium heat. Let mixture reach a boil and then lower to a simmer and cover.
3. Let simmer for 30 minutes covered.
4. At the end of 30 minutes check the consistency of the rice pudding. Add more almond milk if you think its too thick. Note that if you prefer to eat this cold it will thicken when cold.
5. Remove from heat. If you like it hot let it cool to not lava-hot temperatures and then top with coconut cream that was set aside and sliced mangoes then eat. Try to eat it before the coconut cream all melts.
6. If you like it cold, let cool to room temperature and then chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Then top it with the coconut cream that was set aside and sliced mangoes.

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This is a dessert I like to eat hot or cold. This is quite the achievement as I normally like everything cold. Pound cake, brownies, oatmeal….everything that people love warm and “fresh out of the oven” I will let wallow in the fridge and enjoy it when its properly chilled and dense and solid. Ok maybe not chocolate chip cookies those are pretty darn good out of the oven. The point is, this is good hot or cold. When its hot the coconut cream will melt and slowly snakes its way into the purple-black rice pudding. The rice pudding will be hot and sweet and the not-melted coconut cream will be cool and cold and the mangoes will be somewhere in between. When its cold the pudding feels a bit richer as it is thicker with more body (possible only a term that hair commercials for volumizing shampoo can use but I’m going for it) and you get nice fluffy mounds of whipped-like coconut cream with every bite. This is good too.

Black rice pudding.

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Black Rice Pudding with Mangoes and Coconut Cream

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