I asked my mom where this recipe originated but she doesn’t really know.  Her mom made it when she was young, and I plan to make it for my kids…whenever they choose arrive.

My mom grew up in Richvale, California.  Her dad, better known as Gramps, is a rice grower in Northern California, and so they ate a lot of rice growing up.  My mom met my dad in college and he brought her to the great state of Texas.  Thanks to my sweet Californian mother, I don’t have too much of a Texas accent, and I ate of lot of perfectly cooked rice as a kid.

This rice pudding is best made with a medium grain rice.  Most of what I found in the grocery store was long grain white rice.  I bought a short grain sushi rice for the pudding.  I was worried after mom said, “It may contain too much gluten and get too sticky.”  But that’s the rice I had, so that’s the rice I used.  It ended up being thicker than my mom’s pudding, but very delicious.

Make sure to wait at least 20 minutes before adding the vanilla.  You can eat this pudding warm, but I like it chilled.  If your pudding is too thick when you remove it from the oven you can stir in a bit more milk.

Rice Pudding

• 1 cup white rice
• 1 cup white sugar
• 8 cups 2% milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 300° F
2. Stir together 1 cup rice, 2 cups  milk, 1 cup sugar and 1.4 teaspoon salt in an oven proof dish.      *I used an enamel coated dutch oven.  My mom, the pro, uses a corning-ware type dish.
3. Bake for 30 minutes.
4. Stir, add 2 cups milk, stir.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. Stir, add 2 cups milk, stir.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.
8. Stir, add 2 cups milk, stir.
9. Bake for 30 minutes.
10. Stir, bake for 30 minutes.
11. Stir, bake for 3o minutes.
12. Remove from the oven and let sit for 20 minutes.
13. Stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla.

Enjoy plain or with cinnamon sugar, or lingonberry jam.