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Pumpkin Brown Rice Pudding

Made with coconut milk, infused with warming winter spices and sweetened with maple syrup, this vegan pumpkin rice pudding is deliciously comforting and surprisingly virtuous. While it has to simmer for over an hour, the cooking time is mostly hands-off.
Author: Nicki Sizemore

Ingredients

  • ½ cup long-grain brown rice (I ‘ve been using brown Jasmine)
  • 2 14- oz cans coconut milk
  • ½ vanilla bean
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 whole clove
  • 1 thin slice ginger
  • 1 2- inch piece orange zest (optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup maple syrup (preferably grade B)
  • ¾ cup pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)

Special equipment: cheesecloth, butcher’s twine

    Instructions

    • Place the rice in a spice grinder and pulse a few times to break up the grains. You want to end up with broken grains, not a powder.
    • Put the coconut milk in a medium, heavy-bottomed pot. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds with the back of a knife and add the seeds to the coconut milk. Reserve the pods.
    • Wrap the cinnamon stick, whole clove, ginger, orange zest (if using) and reserved vanilla bean pod in a 6-inch (or thereabout) square of cheesecloth; tie it into a bundle with a piece of butcher’s twine. Add the spice pack to the coconut milk, along with the ground rice, sea salt and maple syrup. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low (I move it to my lowest burner) and cook, covered, 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
    • Stir in the pumpkin puree and cook 10-20 minutes longer, or until the rice is tender (since it’s brown rice it will still have a bite, but it shouldn’t be crunchy). Remove the spice pack. Taste and add additional maple syrup, if desired, depending on the sweetness of your pumpkin. Serve warm, at room temperature or cold. DO AHEAD: The pudding can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Place a piece of parchment or wax paper directly on the surface of the pudding before covering to prevent a skin from forming.

    *To make pumpkin puree from scratch, preheat the oven to 375˚ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and coat it lightly with oil. Cut out the stem from a sugar pumpkin (just like you would if you were carving a pumpkin—I even use my Halloween pumpkin carving knife to do this), then cut the pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds (save the seeds to roast). Place the halves cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until tender (a knife should slide through without resistance. Let cool slightly, then scoop the flesh into a food processor. Process, scraping down sides occasionally, until smooth. This will take awhile—just let the machine rip. If you want to ensure a really smooth texture, press the pumpkin puree through a strainer with a spatula. 1 sugar pumpkin yields about 2 cups of puree. The puree can be stored for up two 5 days in the refrigerator, or for up to 2 months in the freezer.