desserts, recipes

Portuguese Recipes – Arroz Doce

Portuguese recipes - egg yolks

One of my favourite Portuguese desserts is arroz doce (rice pudding), so when a friend discovered it on the wonderful Sami’s Colourful World blog, I had to make sure this was the next in my series of Portuguese recipes.

Arroz doce is a very typical Portuguese dessert, found in the majority of restaurants. It is flavoured with cinnamon and can be eaten hot or cold. My first experience of it was when our Portuguese neighbours brought a large bowlful upstairs for us as a gift, as part of a wonderful international food gift exchange that we had going with them until they moved away.

Portuguese recipes - egg yolks

Portuguese recipes – egg yolks

The recipe below is reproduced from Sami’s blog, for which she has kindly granted permission. It is quick and easy to make and results in a wonderful, creamy dessert that we ate following Sunday dinner. As with many of the best and most traditional Portuguese dishes, arroz doce is extremely cheap to make. It uses store cupboard ingredients – the only thing I had to buy to make this was a single lemon.

The left over egg whites from this recipe can be used to make meringue – on this occasion my mother used them to make a delightful lemon meringue pie.

Lemon meringue pie

Lemon meringue pie

This is definitely one Portuguese recipe that will become one of my staples for entertaining family and friends.

Ingredients

125 gr short grain rice (I used risotto rice)
250ml water
Pinch of salt
1 stick cinnamon
Lemon rind strips
500ml milk
150 gr sugar
25gr butter
3 egg yolks
Grated lemon rind
Ground cinnamon

Portuguese recipes - arroz doce ingredients

Portuguese recipes – arroz doce ingredients

Recipe

1. Boil the rice in salted water for 10 minutes.

2. Warm the milk with the cinnamon stick and a few strips of lemon rind. Strain the rice and add the warm milk and simmer until rice is cooked.
3. Add the sugar and butter and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

4. Beat the egg yolks in a cup and add a bit of the warm rice mixture, mix well and add to the pan.

5. Remove the lemon rind and cinnamon stick and add some grated lemon rind, then simmer for 2-3 minutes stirring continuously.

6. Pour into a shallow platter or into individual bowls. Decorate with ground cinnamon and enjoy!!

Portuguese recipes - arroz doce

Portuguese recipes – arroz doce