A delicious dessert you can make in less time than you think
Who doesn’t love cooking? Picture this, you are listening to your favourite music while enjoying the aroma of the freshly cut herbs. This must be one of the most relaxing activities you can do at home, but let’s be honest, do we always have the time, and energy, to do so? How does that process normally go?
Yes, bored children running around because you have been cooking for too long, stains that reach impossible places, burnt stuff after you started scrolling on your phone and forgot the heat on, the list can go on and on. Truth is the pressures of the modern world may transform the idyllic experience cooking can be into a nightmare. However, we are not alone in this one.
Kitchen allies
Modern life brought us a lot of stress and, paradoxically, ways to ease it. With technology, not only did new kitchen appliances emerge but the oldest ones were redesigned to make the cooking experience extra special. Now you can make your dishwasher do the dishes from a distance and your coffee maker may order and buy its own capsules when it’s running low.
At some point, cooking time was thrust into the limelight and countless devices were invented to reduce it. Hand-blenders, air-fryers, automatic pot stirrers, you name it. It is clear that cooking has never been easier. Of all these life saviours, there is one that will always have a special place in the heart of those who love a nice homemade meal but live in a hurry: the instant pot.
Your next BFF
Probably, the most amazing feature of the instant pot is that it is fast, it may save you loads of time since it cooks 10 times faster than other methods. Indeed, far away and long ago are the days in which you spent hours in the kitchen. Plus, it has tons of programs so you’ll be able to sauté, steam, warm, slow cook, etc. which means that you can cook any kind of meat or vegetable in it.
As if it wasn’t enough, it makes cleaning super easy since you have only one pot to worry about. This gadget uses pressurized steam heat without drying out the food which makes cooking rice, for example, a very simple task. Let’s take rice pudding in an instant pot, an old-fashioned dessert that your granny loved to prepare and that still holds up today. Rice pudding is the perfect example of comfort food: it is simple, absolutely delicious and it brings back special memories, give it a try!
Ingredients (2 servings):
- ½ cup of Arborio rice (or any other short-grain rice).
- 1 cup of whole milk.
- 200 ml of water.
- ½ cup of sugar.
- 1 egg.
- ½ tsp of nutmeg.
- 1 cinnamon stick.
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
- ½ lemon peel.
Preparation:
- Rinse rice, this step will remove starch from the grains that would give our preparation a gummy texture we don’t want. Then pour the rice and the water into the instant pot and stir.
- Set Pressure cook for 5 minutes. When ready, do Natural Release for 10 minutes.
- Turn off the pot and release all pressure. Take the lid off and stir a little bit. Add half of the whole milk, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon stick and lemon peel. Mix and cover.
- Now is time to work on the pudding part. Whisk the egg along with the rest of the whole milk and the vanilla extract. Incorporate the mix into the pot.
- Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- you’re almost done! Add the raisins and turn the heat off. You will notice that the preparation is quite runny, this is because it is still too hot. Let it cool down a bit and serve with cinnamon on top. Enjoy!
Raisins, either you love them or loathe them. If you are not a fan, you can leave them out or replace them with other dried fruit. A piece of advice? Try dried blueberries for a pinch of tartness.
Before refrigerating rice pudding, let it cool completely. If you decide to store it in your fridge, be aware it will last for 4 to 5 days max.
It’s quite probable that after that time, you will see that the texture has changed. Add some milk while reheating, it will recover that creaminess it had before.
