MY RIZOGALO

Remember rice puddings the ones you would have at school dinners or the homemade ones? Well this is much better and mostly served cold with parboiled lemon or orange peel.

Rizogalo (rice pudding) is a thick and creamy treat. It takes quite a bit of stirring action to thicken properly, but the end result is really worth the effort. Rizogalo gets its name from the two main ingredients, rice (rizi) and milk (gala). This pudding shows its Greek roots with a hint of citrus from adding a piece of lemon or orange rind when cooking the rice.

Ingredients

• 500 ml water

• 35 g unsalted butter

• 6 ground cardamom seeds

• 125 g short-grain white rice or arborio rice

• 500 ml semi skimmed

• 1 egg (beaten well)

• 100 ml rose water

• 5 drops of zero calorie sweetener

• 125 ml semi skimmed milk for cornstarch mix.

• 60 g cornstarch

• 5 ml vanilla extract

• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or more to taste

• 35 mm of Lemon or orange peel

Directions

• In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter then add the 500 ml water, rice, ground cardamom seeds plus some lemon or orange peel and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered and stir very slowly every few moments, until most of the butterry water has been absorbed and rice is soft, this is about 25 minutes.

• Remove the peel and keep for later. Then Pour the milk 500 ml and sweetener and increase heat to high.

• Meanwhile, stir together the 125 ml of milk and cornstarch in a bowl to a smooth paste and add the beaten egg and stir until blended.

• Once rice mixture is starting to boiling, slowly add cornstarch and egg mixture and vanilla extract. Stir until well combined, keep stirring until it thickens and remove from heat while still stirring.

• Ladle the into six individual serving dishes and sprinkle with cinnamon to taste. Allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours. Before serving place the cold orange or lemon peel that has been cut into thin strips.