Sweet Rice With Raisins, Walnuts & Rum Sauce
Where I originally come from, rice is a staple food. In the Philippines, a meal is not a meal without rice so for breakfast, lunch, snack & dinner, it is omnipresent.
Here is a rice dessert that is quite filling but enjoyable up to the last grain.
I'm not really a measurer, one of my shortcomings in cooking. I am trying to discipline myself in measuring before I dump the ingredients. Feel free to adjust the quantities.
Ingredients:
Serves 2
- 1/2 cup of rice for 2 servings. I used the Italian arborio because I lightly pressed them to get a compact & sticky texture.
- about 60 g. of almonds
- about 80 g. of raisins, soaked in rum (optional to soak)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 vanilla stick
- 1 round slice of fresh pineapple
For the rum sauce:
- 1 shot of rum
- a knob of butter
- 2 tablspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
Directions:
Preparing the rice:
Boil the rice with water, sugar & vanilla stick. The vanilla stick has to be sliced lengthwise, in the middle and with the tip of the knife, take out the seeds & put them in the pot of rice along with the pod.
I measure the water by inserting my finger in the water until it touches the rice. The level of the water has to come up to the first line of my finger. That's the way it's always been done in our house when I was young and I find it useful & accurate when I am boiling rice. At the beginning, the fire has to be on medium-high until it boils. When it boils, put the fire at the minimum, cover & simmer for about 10 minutes or until rice is tender. When cooked, let cool.
Preparing the condiments:
Put the drained raisins, walnuts & pineapple in a food processor. Attain a coarse texture.
Preparing the sauce:
In a small pot, put the butter, sugar & water together. When butter melts, add the rum. Put up the fire to make the alcohol evaporate.
Mixing everything altogether:
Take away the vanilla pod from the rice. Mix the rice, the condiments & sauce well.
