Mostly-vegan rice pudding with mango puree

I say "mostly-vegan" because it would have been vegan if I'd had another can of coconut milk in the house.

So, I really love rice pudding, but have had very little luck making it in the past. It tends to come out too chewy, tastes like cooked eggs (am I the only person who thinks that desserts shouldn't noticeably taste like eggs?) or burnt. I also tried to make it in a crockpot twice, and that was pretty fail-tastic.

But! I have made a rice pudding that I don't feel embarrassed sharing with the Internet, namely because it tasted good and did not get burnt.

I was inspired by this recipe because I wanted to use coconut milk and the mango looked really tasty, but ended up using the basic instructions from this recipe, as I prefer rice puddings that start out with uncooked rice, I feel like it lets the flavors mingle better.

The coconut and mango make this delightfully tropical.

For the pudding itself, you need the following:
1/3 cup white rice
1 can (14 oz) of coconut milk
1 cup of cow milk (I used 1%)

*note that you can make this vegan/dairy free by just using 1 and 1/2 cans of coconut milk*

a pinch of salt
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
2-3 tablespoons sugar (I used brown)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Here's everything you need (except for the ground cinnamon and the salt) that you need for the pudding.


Start by adding the salt and the milk (both kinds) to the rice in a saucepan. Heat over medium-high. Stir frequently until the mixture boils, at this point adding the cinnamon stick. After it reaches boiling, turn down low, putting a lid on the saucepan.

Stir often until rice becomes tender, about 25 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick, and then add the sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. At this point, turn off the burner and let the pudding sit at least ten minutes. This will allow it to thicken.

Serves 3.

For the mango puree:

1 mango, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
some water
small splash of lemon juice (optional)

Put the chopped mango in a small saucepan and cover the pieces about halfway with water. Add the sugar and lemon juice, and boil for 5-7 minutes over high heat. When the water's volume has been reduced by about half, mash the fruit pieces with a potato masher. Alternatively, it could be blended smooth with an immersion blender.

And here it is in photos!


There will be coconut solids clinging to the lid and sides of the can, and perhaps because the people who taught me to cook were raised by depression-era cooks, I always try to get the remnants of food out of canned anything.

The mixture takes 5-10 minutes to come to a solid boil.

The pudding is already quite thick by this point. Also, while boiling, keep a close eye on the pot, as you can see by the gunked-up pot sides, this thing boiled over when I wasn't looking.

While the pudding is thickening on the stove, you can make the mango puree! The cooking and addition of sugar probably would not be necessary if you buy your mangoes somewhere more tropical then the Pacific Northwest

Just imagine that my hand is not holding a camera and instead is holding that knife.

I should have used a bit less water then this.

After boiling off about half of the water, it is time to mash it! You could puree with an immersion blender, but aside from the fact that I don't have one, I like having the chunks of mango interspersed among the rice.

Spoon some on top of your pudding and enjoy!