Rice Pudding with Nectarines and Amaretto

Perfect for Summer – Ice Cold and Creamy Rice Pudding.

This came about because I made a mistake. I really don’t know how it happened, but I ended up having 25 pounds of Homai Calrose medium grain sushi rice delivered in my last Costco order. I remember looking at it awhile ago, but have no recollection of having put it in my order. Oh, well. We’re rice eaters and I knew it wouldn’t go to waste.

But seeing as we had this load, my son suggested we start experimenting with rice pudding. Talk about fun. We love different kinds of rice puddings, but this time I was going for a particularly creamy stove top version. I’ve never been perfectly satisfied with any I’ve made.

I knew I only wanted dairy, sugar, rice, and a little vanilla – no eggs. I really wanted to just taste the actual rice and the dairy. I felt this kind of rice would be perfect because it has a little chew after it’s cooked and it gives off a lot of starch if it isn’t rinsed. This seemed perfect for thickening up the pudding. And I didn’t want this too sweet. After playing around with the amounts, I finally found the right mix by using whole milk, rice, sugar, a big pinch of salt, and a little vanilla extract. 

I had tried adding some heavy cream, but I wasn’t happy with the result. It was too heavy. But I also felt the end result was still lacking in both richness and the right texture. I whipped half a cup of heavy cream and folded it in after the pudding had cooled. I loved what it did for the texture, but felt it was now too rich. Then I tried whipping up half the amount of heavy cream with an equal amount of buttermilk. Oh, yes! This was it. The flavor of the buttermilk was the perfect balance for the pudding and the texture was now ridiculously good.

For my next batch, I decided to add some chopped ripe nectarines. I stirred them in near the end of the cooking time and only let them cook for a couple of minutes. After it had chilled (and further thickened), I folded in the whipped buttermilk and cream, to which I had added some Amaretto because I love the flavor of almonds with nectarines or peaches. You could substitute a little almond extract for the Amaretto if you don’t have any on hand.

I scattered on black sesame seeds * right before serving, only because I thought a little crunch would be nice and we ended up adding even more after we tasted it. A few mint leaves are also a nice addition.

We’ve had such a good time trying out other variations. I stick with the basic ingredients, but play around with the flavorings. I had some of those delicious dark Luxardo cherries sitting in a jar, so I added a few tablespoons of their syrup and a little kirsch to the whipped cream and buttermilk for one batch. A few chopped Luxardo cherries on top of each serving were superb.

I did have one complete fail. We tried a hibiscus version. Well, after grinding up the dried hibiscus petals and adding them to the pudding as it was cooking I ended up with a disaster. The hibiscus caused the dairy to break and it was inedible. Scratch that idea off the list. 

But I can see all different ways to go with this pudding, depending on what fruits are in season, etc. I also think it’s really good with no other additions, just the vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg when it’s served. All I know is that we all love this rice pudding and that’s a good thing because I’ll probably be making a whole lot of it. After all, I’ve only got 23 pounds of rice left.