Baked Rice Pudding

The first and the most important step is cooking the rice in advance - 2-3 hours before actually making the pudding.

You can cook it like I do, following the rice with butter recipe, in a deep pan and with milk instead of water.

- melt 25g butter in a pan, add 1 cup of well washed and well drained rice, stir;

- Pour over 600ml milk, 50g sugar and 0.5 tsp salt, mix well and cook over high heat until it comes to a boil;

- As it comes to the boil, turn heat down and cook, without mixing at all, for about 15 minutes.

Cooking time may vary depending on the type of rice.

When you see that the rice has soaked up almost all the milk, cover the pan with a lid and turn off the heat.

Now wait patiently and let puff for 30 minutes, without stirring and without the heat on.

After 30 minutes, mix and notice that the rice is well cooked, every single grain, without being mushy, though.

You can cook the rice any way you prefer. What matters is that, at the end, every single grain of rice is properly cooked (rice is not mushy) and cooled.

Butter a baking dish - this is a 26cm springform pan.

Sprinkle with 5 tbsp breadcrumbs, shake well to distribute everywhere, on the base and on the walls.

Separate 3 eggs.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then add 100g sugar little by little.

Add 100g sugar, vanilla extract and 100ml milk to the egg yolks, mix.

Stir in the cooled rice, then the raisins, well washed, mix.

Add the beaten egg whites, little at a time, stir carefully with a spatula.

Pour into the baking dish we prepared earlier, even out with a spoon.

Sprinkle the top with 2 more tbsp breadcrumbs, this will make a delicious crust and won't let the pudding dry off.

Bake in the preheated oven to 180 degrees C for 35-40 minutes, until nice golden brown. 

Then let cool for 2-3 hours.

Remove the pan ring, slice and serve.

It's delicious, plain, just like a sponge cake or a moist loaf cake.

Enjoy!