Arroz con leche is the traditional Cuban rice pudding. It is made with two types of milk, short grain rice, sugar and aromatic ingredients combined for a creamy, delicious and easy to make dessert.
Add a volume of water that is one and a half that of the rice (400-500 mL) to a deep-bottom pan. Bring the water to the boil and then add the rice, the orange peel, and one stick of cinnamon. Turn the heat to low to allow the rice to soften and to absorb the aromas (around 10-13 min). Leave the pan uncovered at all times.
Whilst the rice softens, add to another pan the fresh milk, the lemon peel, the second cinnamon stick and the clove. Heat until near the boiling point and then reduce heat to keep it warm.
When the rice is soft and has absorbed all the water, add the milk from the other pan using a fine mesh sieve to strain the solid ingredients. Then add the second cinnamon stick and the lemon peel from the milk as well. Dispose the clove. Increase the heat to allow boiling.
When the preparation reaches the boiling point, reduce the heat to low or low-medium and extract all the remaining aromatic ingredients. Add the evaporated milk and a pinch of salt. Stir very well.
Continue stirring every 5 minutes for a maximum of 45 minutes. Past this time, add the sugar and integrate it very well. At this point the rice should be creamy and has absorbed the milk well. Leave on the hobs for other 5 minutes, then turn off the heat. Add the butter immediately and mix it very well. It’s almost done! Just leave it to cool down to ambience temperature and then place it in the fridge for at least two hours until set. Time to serve arroz con leche, creamiest rice pudding ever, better served with a generous sprinkle of ground cinnamon on top!
Notes
Allergy info: milkServings: 10-12 people (150-180 g of dessert in each portion)Yields: 1800 g (7 cups of dessert)In this recipe, the Total Time of 1 hour and 10 min only includes the crafting time (prep time and cooking time). It does not include the cooling time after cooking (30 min at ambience temperature and 2 hours in the fridge).