Dairy-Free Rice Pudding

Serves 4

Thanks to our reader who shared this delightful story about the traditional Latin American dessert, Arroz con Leche (we've made it a bit lighter by using soy milk and maple syrup): "In high school, I was an exchange student in a rural mountain village in Costa Rica. Most of the food my family ate came from their garden or farm, but they told me that the new car the town had purchased allowed them to make occasional trips to the nearby city to buy commercial ingredients. This allowed them to make arroz con leche, my favorite dessert. When neighbors learned that I loved it so much, they would stop me on my walk home and offer me bowls of it."

Ingredients

1 cup Arborio or Jasmine rice
4 cups vanilla soy milk or almond milk
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 small cinnamon stick
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup raisins
cinnamon or nutmeg powder

Method

Rinse the rice, drain and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine rice, 3 cups milk, salt and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often to prevent rice from sticking and milk from boiling over.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Stir in the maple syrup and continue cooking, stirring often and adding more milk if necessary, for about 30 minutes more or until the rice is cooked through and has absorbed most of the milk.

Stir in raisins and remove cinnamon stick. Serve the rice pudding warm or cool, with cinnamon or nutmeg sprinkled on top.

Nutrition

Per serving: 310 calories (35 from fat), 3.5g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 8g protein, 61g total carbohydrate (1g dietary fiber, 32g sugar), 0mg cholesterol, 170mg sodium

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/711