Vegan Middle Eastern Rice Pudding
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Served hot or chilled, this recipe for Vegan Middle Eastern Rice Pudding is comforting, creamy, and scented with the unique flavors of the Middle East.
Ingredients
  • 6 cups nondairy milk (I prefer soy milk here)
  • ¼ cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
  • 3-4 mastic tears, ground
  • ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
  • 5 Tablespoons rice
  • 1½ cups water
  • 6 Tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons orange blossom water
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Reserve ½ cup of the nondairy milk in a small bowl. In a large pot, heat the rest of the nondairy milk, sugar, coconut oil, mastic powder, and salt over medium-high heat so it comes to a boil.
  2. In the meanwhile, rinse and drain the rice and put it into a small saucepan with the water. Bring the rice to a boil over medium-high heat. Let it boil for 10 minutes.
  3. After 10 minutes, the milk mixture should have come to a boil. Dump the partially cooked rice and any remaining water into the large pot with the milk mixture. Let it return to a boil and simmer for another 8 minutes.
  4. After 8 minutes of simmering, whisk in the cornstarch to the reserved nondairy milk in the small bowl until no lumps remain. Stir this slurry into the simmering milk and rice mixture. Let it come back to a boil. Once it has done that, let it cook for 1 more minute then remove from the heat. Stir in the orange blossom water and vanilla extract. Ladle the hot rice pudding into serving bowls. Serve after they have cooled slightly or let them come to room temperature then cover and refrigerate them for a chilled treat. Garnish with pistachios, cinnamon, and/or shredded coconut.
Notes
-I use a rich, creamy soy milk for this recipe. You can, however, use your favorite nondairy milk. If you are using an unsweetened milk, you may want to add a touch more sugar. Or if your milk is already rather sweet, you may want to be more restrained with the sugar. Just taste it as you go but keep in mind that when you add in the cornstarch slurry, it will become slightly less sweet than before adding it.

-In many recipes, you can substitute the cornstarch with tapioca or arrowroot starch, but in this recipe, only cornstarch works. The others don't thicken this pudding in the way cornstarch does.

-Both mastic and orange blossom water can be found in Middle Eastern markets or online. If you can find one, but can't find the other, don't worry. As long as you use one of the two, the flavor will still be excellent.

-The best way to grind the mastic tears is in a mortar and pestle with a few teaspoons of the sugar. Or if you don't have a mortar and pestle, put the mastic in a small dish with some sugar and smash and grind them with the back of a spoon.

-This recipe makes around 6-8 servings.
Recipe by Lands & Flavors at https://www.landsandflavors.com/vegan-middle-eastern-rice-pudding/