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Portuguese recipe

How to make Arroz doce

All over Portugal

Rice pudding
Photo: Shivangisj, CC BY-SA 4.0

A creamy rice pudding flavoured with lemon peel and enriched with egg yolks, served cold with patterns of ground cinnamon drawn on top.

Serves 6 1 h 10 min

Ingredients

  • 200 g short-grain rice
  • 400 ml water
  • A pinch of salt
  • Peel of 1 lemon, in wide strips
  • 1 litre whole milk, warmed
  • 200 g sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • Ground cinnamon, to decorate

Method

  1. Cook the rice in the water with the salt and lemon peel until the water is almost all absorbed, about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the warm milk a ladle at a time and simmer gently, stirring often, for about 30 minutes, until the rice is soft and creamy.
  3. Stir in the sugar until it dissolves, then take the pan off the heat and remove the lemon peel.
  4. Beat the egg yolks with a few spoonfuls of the hot rice, then stir them into the pan. Cook over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until thick, so the yolks are fully cooked.
  5. Pour into a serving dish, let it cool and draw a lattice of ground cinnamon on top.
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