Effortless Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding with Saucy Tart Cherries

• Vegetarian

• Produce

  • 1 1/2 cups Montmorency tart cherries, frozen

• Condiments

  • 1/3 cup Honey
  • 1/4 cup Maple syrup, pure

• Pasta & Grains

  • 1/2 cup Jasmine rice

• Baking & Spices

  • 1/2 tsp Black pepper, coarsely ground
  • 1 pinch Salt
  • 1 2 teaspoons tablespoon Tapioca starch
  • 1/2 Vanilla bean

• Dairy

  • 3 1/2 cups Whole or 2% milk

• Liquids

  • 3 tbsp Water

Found on heartbeetkitchen.com

Description

Ingredients

• rice pudding:
• ½ cup jasmine rice
• 3½ cups of whole or 2% milk (do not go less than that in terms of fat)
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• pinch of salt
• ½ of one vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
• for the cherries:
• 1½ cups frozen Montmorency tart cherries, thawed + 3 tablespoons of their juice from thawing
• ⅓ cup honey
• ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons tablespoon tapioca starch (or cornstarch)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• In a large gratin dish (holds at least 6 cups), combine rice, milk, maple syrup, salt and seeds of vanilla bean. Stir to combine and set empty vanilla bean half on top.
• Bake for 30 minutes, stir. Continue baking for 30 more minutes, then stir. At this point there will be a bit of skin that you are stirring back in stir back in. Cook for 30 more minutes. The rice will plump and start to become a more noticeable part of the mixture and the skin becomes more visible and darker. The pudding is getting close, bake 5 more minutes. Take the dish out and set it on the counter. You will see that once it sits for even a minute, even though you don’t think it’s done, it will start to sink in just from this short test, a sign it is absorbing the liquid.
• Now broil on low for 3 minutes, until you get some brown spots on top. Take out and it may seem a little liquidy still, which is how it should be because it will thicken by letting cool for at least one hour. If you chill it overnight in the refrigerator, it will be very thick.
• Then serve with saucy cherries, below.
• While the rice is baking, make the cherries. Add frozen tart cherries, honey, tart cherry juice, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer for 12 minutes, stirring a few times. Then dissolve the tapioca starch in water, and stir into mixture. Cook for another minute, until thickened.