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Banana Rice Pudding Sprinkled with Cinnamon
Can bananas be sublime? Can white rice? I think they can be, together; try it and you’ll agree that this banana rice pudding is surprisingly sublime.
It started out simply enough. I had very ripe bananas, pleading for attention, and lots of left-over white rice, insolent, daring me to devise something more thrilling than fried rice. Perhaps plain white rice has overheard me exclaim on more than one occasion that it simply has no flavor for me (it had come with Chinese take-out). Sorry, white rice. And obviously, anthropomorphizing food, I needed something constructive to do, but it had to be something different, not just old favorites, fried rice and banana bread.
How about banana rice pudding? Did such a thing exist? I had a vague memory of it…
I couldn’t find a simple recipe online (the best one had whipped cream, maraschino cherries and vanilla wafer cookies which is just now bringing back memories of a banana pudding recipe on the back of Nabisco Vanilla Wafer cookies) and so I knew I would have to improvise, but at least it had been attempted, and in fact there is a variation that appears to be a standard Indian dish.
The past two weeks have witnessed a few mediocre cooking events for me, some due to my temperamental oven, and some just the result of experimentation. (Overcooked flan, weirdly cooked cinnamon swirl bundt cake, runny Rossetti and chicken stew with disintegrated beans to name a few.) Learning experiences, yes, but could I emotionally handle more mediocrity?
Of course I could, and in fact I was optimistically convinced (as I was with all of the other dishes), that this one would be magnificent.
My basic plan was to use equal amounts of cooked rice and milk with sugar, vanilla and bananas, which seemed to be the basic ingredients. Still, I wondered, what makes it firm up into pudding? Something seemed to be missing, and so I decided to look up plain rice pudding. I quickly found the Simply Recipes version which, like a trusted friend, I knew would provide the guidance I needed. There were tons of interesting comments, and I was further encouraged that rice pudding struck such a chord with so many people.
Elise includes (uncooked) rice, milk, sugar and vanilla, but she also uses an egg, the missing secret ingredient! Her recipe looks very good, and I may try that next (I’m on a roll) but I stuck with mine, as I was using cooked rice, not uncooked.
The recipe I came up with tastes subtly but intensely of bananas and rice with a hint of cinnamon. It came out pretty thick which may be because I accidentally let it boil up a bit, but I figure there is always slight variations in viscosity (thickness) with rice dishes. I may add a bit more milk next time, but this was a dish enjoyed by all (yes, including my picky daughter…)
- Milk - 3 cups (I used 2%)
- Rice - 3 cups, cooked
- Sugar - 1/2 cup, white
- Salt - 1/4 tsp.
- Vanilla - 1 tsp.
- Eggs - 2
- Bananas - 2, very ripe, mashed
- Cinnamon - 1/4 tsp, plus more for optional topping
- In a large saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, rice and salt.
- Cook on medium heat until it begins to boil and then lower to simmer, stirring often to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice mixture begins to thicken.
- Beat the 2 eggs and add the vanilla; add to the rice mixture and blend well, as it continues to simmer.
- Mash the bananas and add to the rice mixture. Blend well.
- Continue simmering and stirring for another 10 minutes or so, and then remove from heat.
- Cool slightly. Can be eaten warm or chilled.
Top individual servings with powdered cinnamon for extra flavor.
