Almond milk rice pudding

Almond milk rice pudding

Serves 2 as a main meal or 4 as a side dish

The rice needs to soak overnight so plan ahead and enjoy this as a tasty breakfast!! 

5 cups water

1 1/4 cup brown rice

2 cups almond milk, or make your own!

a little over 1/2 cup natural sugar, or sugar substitute to taste

cinnamon to taste (I like a lot!!)

The night before you plan to serve this, bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the rice and cook for 5 minutes.  Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.  Turn the heat off and let it sit covered, at room temperature over night.  (Soak the almonds also overnight if you are making your own almond milk.)

In the morning, bring the rice and water back to a boil and cook until the rice is soft.  Drain the water if necessary and return rice to saucepan (Save the water for soups!  If there's only a little water, say less than 1/2 cup, you can leave it and it will still taste great.  Just reduce the almond milk a little.)  Add almond milk and heat over medium heat, watching carefully cos it will boil over fast.  When the almond milk is hot, add the sugar and mix well.  Turn the heat to low and let simmer 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so.  Add cinnamon to taste, or put a shaker on the table for everyone to add their own.  You can serve it hot from here, or let it sit a couple hours to thicken and cool.  The flavor is improved when it's allowed to sit, as with most of my recipes, but it is still amazing if you want to dig in now.  There should be plenty so eat some now and let some sit, and next time you will know which one you like best :)

I recommend serving this with a bowl of fruit or as a side dish--although it's super delicious, it's not super filling so prepare something else along with it.  It goes great with my raisin-cumin rice, broiled tomatoes and steamed kale recipe here!