Milchreis (Milk Rice) – German Rice Pudding
Milchreis (German Rice Pudding) and Grießbrei (German Semolina Pudding) are 2 dishes I grew up with. They are easy and fast to make, and quite nutritious if you pair them with fresh fruits. These dishes are not only common to Germany, but to a lot of other European countries. You can have them as a desert, as well as a main dish. You don’t even need an oven!
Although in Germany you can buy special rice for making Milchreis, you can also make this dish with pretty much any short grain rice.
I make my Milchreis with butter or cream, with very little to none sugar, and serve it with self-made strawberry confiture or fresh fruits, when in season. Of course, the cinnamon is always there.
Ingredients for 4 portions (desert) or 2 main dishes:
- 100g short grain rice
- 500ml milk
- 30g sugar
- 30g butter (about 2 tbsp)
- a pinch of salt
- vanilla sugar (optional)
- peal of half a lemon (optional)
- cinnamon
- jam, marmalade, honey, syrup or fresh fruits for serving
- Wash the rice and boil it in about 100g of water, till the water is almost gone. This is to make sure the rice gets nice and fluffy.
- Add the butter and the mild, cover it and boil it over low heat, mixing it from time to time so it doesn’t stick to the bottom. It may take good 20 minutes or so.
- When the rice is boiled (the liquid is almost absorbed and the grains are rather soft), add the sugar, vanilla sugar and lemon peel if you like, mix them in and turn off the heat. There should still be some liquid on top which is going to be absorbed by the rice in the next minutes. Not sure if your rice is done? Just taste it to see if it’s still hard.
- The reason the milk is first boiled in water and the sugars are added at the end is because the sugars make the rice grains hard. Milk contains lactose, which is also a form of sugar.
- Pour the milk rice in the serving bowls and sprinkle cinnamon on top.
- Serve the milk rice with toppings of your choice. My favorite is with self made strawberry confiture, but I also like to eat it with fresh seasonal fruits.
