Rice pudding

Rice pudding is a dish made from rice and milk, and commonly other ingredients such as sweeteners, spices, flavourings and sometimes eggs.

Variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar. Such desserts are found on many continents, especially Asia, where rice is a staple. Some variants are thickened only with the rice starch, while others include eggs, making them a kind of custard.

Rice puddings are found in nearly every area of the world. Recipes can greatly vary even within a single country. The dessert can be boiled or baked. Different types of pudding vary depending on preparation methods and the selected ingredients. The following ingredients are usually found in rice puddings:

The following is a list of various rice puddings grouped by place of origin.

Many dishes resembling rice pudding can be found in Southeast Asia, many of which have Chinese influences. Owing to Chinese usage, they are almost never referred to as rice pudding by the local populations (whether ethnic Chinese origin or not) but instead called sweet rice porridge.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, rice pudding is a traditional dessert typically made with high-starch short-grained rice sold as "pudding rice".

The earliest rice pudding recipes were called whitepot and date from the Tudor period. Rice pudding is traditionally made with pudding rice, milk, cream and sugar and is sometimes flavoured with vanilla, nutmeg, jam or cinnamon. It can be made in two ways: in a saucepan or by baking in the oven.

It can be made by gently simmering the milk and rice in a saucepan until tender, and then the sugar is carefully mixed in. Finally, the cream is mixed in, and it can either be left to cool and served at room temperature, or heated and served hot. It should have a very creamy consistency.