Sütlaç, rice pudding

A few years back, I was experimenting with Nato Lokantası's Sütlaç (rice pudding) recipe from Istanbul, which was featured in "Restoranlar evde" during the initial COVID lockdown.

The original recipe was meant to serve a crowd, with a whopping 2 liters of milk. So, I scaled it down and, of course, tweaked the rice amount as it didn't quite match the original when I first attempted it. After a few tries, I received the green light to preserve the recipe for future reference. Finally, I'm sharing it here now.

Here’s the recipe;

Sütlaç (Rice Pudding)

Makes 6-8 ramekins

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup (100g) pudding rice

- 4 cups water

- 5 cups full-fat milk

- 1 cup golden caster sugar

- 1 tablespoon cornflour

- 1 egg

- 1 teaspoon split vanilla bean

Instructions

1. In a saucepan, cook rice in water until most of the water is absorbed.

2. Add the milk, bring to a boil.

3. Add the vanilla bean and sugar, bringing it to a boil again while stirring occasionally. Simmer for 2 minutes.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the cornflour, egg, and vanilla. Gradually add a ladleful of the boiling milk to the egg/cornflour mixture and whisk.

5. Turn off the heat. Transfer the rice pudding into oven-proof ramekins.

6. Place the ramekins in an oven tray filled with hot water. Bake in a fan oven at 180°C until the tops turn golden brown, approximately 30 minutes.

7. Let the pudding cool to room temperature, then refrigerate it. Enjoy!