Samoa Inspired Rice Pudding {Integrale Rice Risotto Challenge}

Thank you all for voting for my Savory Lobster Risotto in the first round of the Integrale Rice Risotto Challenge from MarxFoods.com. I was one of the lucky 10 bloggers who received the most votes and with that I moved on to round two…sweet risotto or rice pudding. This was definitely a challenge for me as I have only made rice pudding once!

I have been thinking about this for a while now on what to make. Did I want to make a “tropical” inspired rice pudding with pineapple and mango?  Then I thought oh maybe a hazelnut rice pudding would be good, but I’m pretty sure that has been done a bunch of times. I looked around my pantry and pulled out the following ingredients: chocolate hazelnut milk, cocoa powder, sugar, shredded coconut, and I also had some left over homemade salted caramel sauce. If you add up all these ingredients what do you get?? Well with the addition of flour you would be able to make some homemade samoa cookies. Why not try that combination and make rice pudding?? I don’t know about you but that is one of my favorite girl scout cookies and since being diagnosed with Celiac Disease I have missed these very much.

For this recipe I had some leftover homemade salted caramel sauce. You could make your own or use whatever you normally use or have on hand.

Please visit my first post for the Intgrale Rice Risotto Challenge to read more about this fantastic rice. Not only did it work well and taste delicious in the Lobster Risotto but it is fantastic when making rice pudding!

Seeing as this makes 4 servings and it is just me right now I figured I would share and not be a pig and eat this all myself. So I shared this with neighbor Lisa whose other half is also away for a bit. She ate half of it right there, and then decided that she should probably stop and actually eat some dinner first. I hope you enjoy this as much as my neighbor did!

Samoa Rice Pudding (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 cup Integrale Rice

3 cups water

1/4 cup sugar (I use Wholesome Sweeteners)

1  cup chocolate hazelnut milk (I use Pacific Natural Foods)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 cup toasted coconut + 2 Tablespoons (divided)

1/4 cup caramel sauce + 2 Tablespoons (divided)

pinch of salt

Method Of Preparation:

1. Do NOT rinse the rice. You want the starch to remain, it will help thicken when the milk is added

2. In a medium sized pot add the 3 cups of water and 1 cup of Integrale Rice – bring to a boil

3. Reduce heat to medium, cook until water is absorbed (time varies so keep an eye on it and stir often to prevent sticking)

4. In a small pot add chocolate hazelnut milk, cocoa powder, sugar, 1/4 cup toasted coconut, and 1/4 cup caramel sauce, heat over medium heat

5. Once the rice has absorbed the water, add the warm chocolate hazelnut milk mixture

6. Stir and cook until liquid is mostly absorbed

7. In a small bowl add the remaining toasted coconut and caramel sauce

8. Mix well and set aside

9. Once pudding is finished serve either warm or cool – garnish with the coconut and caramel mixture and drizzle with a little caramel sauce as a garnish

Good luck to the other 9 bloggers! The DelGrosso Food Blog,ChezWhat?, The Upstart Kitchen, The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen, Food for Thought, Oh Cake, Great Outdoors Cooking, Discojing, Cookistry

(I was provided a box of Integral Rice free of charge from MarxFoods.com to try and review)