Rice and Milk

At first glance I know “rice and milk” does not sound appetizing at all. Again, especially to you vegans out there. But I’m here to tell you that you might be surprised if you gave it a chance. Rice and milk in Bulgaria is often eaten as a breakfast food or as a dessert (yes, it’s sweet). Your choice! There are many other countries around the world who have dishes that are similar to what rice and milk is in Bulgaria. For example, the French have a dessert called “Riz au Lait,” which is also known as rice pudding in America. There is also a drink called “Horchata”  that originated in Valencia, Spain, that also has a similar vibe to it as rice pudding or the Bulgarian rice and milk. It is actually a cold, summertime drink that is made from almonds, rice, milk, and cinnamon among other ingredients although the ingredients do vary from region to region.

Riz au Lait

Horchata

I know that because different regions of the world have their own take on the combination of rice and milk, I can’t say that it’s necessarily just Bulgarian. However, growing up it was one of those foods that was always at the table when Sunday morning came around. For us, Sunday was the day my mom would make a special breakfast. Well, she would make something other than eggs, so let’s see if I can try my hand at making this breakfast food!

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

• 250 grams rice (that’s around 8.8 oz)
• 1 liter milk (that’s around 4.2 cups)
• 150 mL water (that’s around 5 fluid oz)
• 7 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Cinnamon to taste

Directions:

1. Boil rice and water in pot on high heat until the rice has absorbed the water. This should take around 5 minutes.
2. Lower the heat.
3. Add the milk, sugar, and vanilla to the rice.
4. Boil the rice with the milk, sugar, and vanilla until the rice has absorbed as much of the milk as possible.
5. If you want, you can let the rice and milk cool down or put it in the fridge to chill.
6. Once you pour it into a bowl, add cinnamon to taste on top.

**This recipe was retrieved from a Bulgarian website, so I think that you might have a tough time reading it unless you translate the page using Google.**

Final Product:

Ratings and Thoughts:

Ratings:

Complexity (1 being easy/5 being hard): ♥

Time (1 being fast/5 being time consuming): ♥

Taste (1 being the worst/5 being the best): ♥♥♥♥♥

Would Recommend (1 being a hard no/5 being totally): ♥♥♥♥♥

Thoughts:

The recipe is kind of hard to get wrong. I mean honestly, I think if you got it wrong you really must have been trying hard to get it wrong… I’m obviously joking, but the ingredients list is pretty simple. All you really need is rice, milk, and sugar, than you pretty much have what you need to make the dessert. It didn’t take a long time to make (around half an hour), and even if you think half an hour is a while, it’s so worth the wait. If you want to try something different than a cookie or cake for dessert, I’d definitely say try this recipe. It’s easy, fast, and super delicious. Also, if you need a visual aid of how to make the rice and milk, you can click here to see a quick YouTube video that uses a slightly different recipe in terms of quantities, but same ingredients. If you by chance have any allergies to the mentioned ingredients, then sorry! Maybe next time I’ll have a food that doesn’t require dairy.