Greek Rice Pudding (Rizogalo)

evelyn/athens's Note:

Comfort food.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1/2 cup short grain white rice (a starchy rice, like arborio)
• 3 cups whole milk
• peel of 1 lemon, removed in one long strip
• 1/3 cup white sugar, plus
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch is the same thing)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Directions:

1. Place milk, sugar and lemon peel (just the peel - none of the pith) in a heavy saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar melts. Reduce heat to low and add the rice.
2. Cover the pan and cook until the rice/milk mixture has gone thick and creamy (about 30-35 minutes).
3. Turn off heat. Remove lemon peel and discard.
4. Whisk together egg yolks with corn flour.
5. Quickly whisk egg yolks into the rice mixture, stirring well. (If you want to, at this point you can also add a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract). Keep stirring to make sure yolks are incorporated and won't curdle.
6. Spoon pudding into four serving dishes and cool. Top with a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Reviews

[love4culinary]

Well, I made this twice! First time I made it exactly as stated and it was good. However, I felt like something (FOR MY TASTES :-) ) was missing. So the next day I made it again using a bit of vanilla and a tad bit more sugar. HEAVEN! This is a marvelous recipe evelyn...I am very thankful that I found it. The lemon peel really adds such a marvelous flavor to the pudding, and I love the cinnamon sprinkled on top :-) thanks for this recipe!!!!! it'sa keepa!

[jdoe]

Thanks for posting, Evelyn; this is an awesome rice pudding! Hands-on time is minimal and it comes out with a great texture and flavor. I loved the subtle lemon flavor from the zest and it was sweet without being overpoweringly so. I made it as written with the exception of using cornstarch instead of cornflour (not sure if they're the same thing or not...I'm in the States and have never come across cornflour). It took mine closer to 50 minutes for the milk to be absorbed by the rice. I'm looking forward to making it again!

[Chris Mihas]

Well, what can I say about this recipe? I made it on a cold January day in Wisconsin, and then hide it in the back of the fridge and ate it all myself. For me it's a six star recipe.