Chocolate Rice Pudding

I am not a big fan of desserts; I’m even less enamoured of chocolate, but this pudding had me licking the bowl clean. It took much discipline to restrain myself from finishing off the pudding before I finished photographing it.

What I really like about this recipe is that not only is is it so simple and easy to make but it doesn’t cost very much to make and you play around with it so much. In fact, I’d suggest that you follow just the method for the recipe and experiment freely with the ingredients. Taking just rice and milk as the base you can change the kind of chocolate you want to use: instead of bitter, use milk or fruit and nut  if you want; use less or more sugar; use honey instead of sugar if you like, stir in a bit of cream if you want it richer, a bit of caramel or toffee if you want a little more character.

INGREDIENTS 
200 gm long-grained rice
600 ml milk
6 tbsp brown sugar (about half the quantity for caster or regular grain sugar)
40 gm dark bitter chocolate, roughly broken into pieces (I used Cadbury Bourneville)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp dark rum, but preferably Cointreau (optional)
40 gm of sweet bundi/ crushed ghevar (optional)

METHOD
Wash the rice and cook it with 550 ml of the milk and all the brown sugar on a low flame.
Blend the cocoa powder with the remaining milk and keep aside.
When the rice is almost done and the milk is has reduced by almost three-fourth stir in the broken chocolate pieces.
Stir vigorously to ensure that the chocolate melts evenly and is completely mixed into  the rice.
Stir in the cocoa-milk mixture and mix well.
Stirring regularly, cook till the rice is soft. ( If the rice is not completely cooked add in a little more milk and continue cooking). Do not leave the rice unattended at this stage as the chocolate might burn.
Turn off the flame and serve hot or cold. I’d suggest warm.
For kids: Garnish with sprinkles, desiccated coconut, sweet bundi, crushed ghevar, jelly beans, whipped cream or other toppings that kids like.
For adults: Turn off the flame and stir in the rum or Cointreau, if using. If you want to make this really interesting, stir in about 5 gm of chilli powder (not flakes) while the pudding is still hot. It adds a gentle spicy kick at the back of the palate and accentuates the alcohol. Garnish with slivers of almonds or pistachios or, what the hell, sweet bundi, crushed ghevar, sprinkles, desiccated coconut, jelly beans, whipped cream etc

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves 3-4