Ris À La Malta (Scandinavian Rice Pudding)

Ris à la Malta has, despite it's name, nothing to do with the sovereign nation of Malta, nor the island said nation is placed on.

Ris à la Malta gets it's name from the danish Risalamande, which in turn comes from the french Riz à l’amande which means rice with almonds. This is rather confusing since a classic recipe does not contain almonds.

Ris à la Malta is a rice pudding which is made from leftover rice porridge and is often eaten as a dessert around the holidays in the scandinavian countries. It is delicious in it's simplicity and very simple to do, especially if you already have som leftover rice porridge.

You will need the following ingredients:

• 2 dl short-grained rice (0.85 cups or ~185 grams)
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 4 dl water (1.7 cups)
• 6 dl milk (2.5 cups)
• 2 dl heavy wipping cream (0.85 cups)
• 3.5 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
• 2 oranges (optional)

Utensils:

• small saucepan
• small bowl
• bigger bowl
• measuring tools
• big spoon
• whisk
• serving vessel of choice

Combine rice, water and salt in a small saucepan and boil on medium heat with the lid on for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. The rice will thicken considerably when you reach the end of your 10 minutes.

Add the milk and lower the heat, cover with a lid and let it simmer gently (I mean really gentle, the milk burns quite easy) for about 45 minutes, stir occasionally. The porridge is done when it has reached a thick consistency (picture 4).

Let it cool down (it will firm up as you do, like in picture 5)

Combine your cream, your powdered sugar and vanilla flavouring of choice and whip to stiff peaks.

The traditional flavouring is orange pieces or clementine pieces but you can add some jam or anything you think will fit in nicely with this comfy holiday treat.

I cut up one orange into smaller pieces and mixed in with the pudding and sliced the other one in bigger chunks for decorating.

Fold everything together in the serving vessel of your choice. Add your desired garnish and invite some friends or family to a little bit of celebratory delight or just treat yourself to some home cooked pudding, you've earned it!

Enjoy and please leave a review if you've tried this or a question if you might have one.