Rice affair (the many varieties of rice & more)

I love rice and the other day as I was making a small serving of pudding–I started thinking of how much joy it brings me and I decided to share how my rice palette has grown over the years and which ones are my faves! A rice affair!

“rice is the best, the most nutritive and unquestionably the most widespread staple in the world.”

Escoffier

*(Click on each title below for nutritional info)

Growing up, we lived on LONG GRAIN WHITE RICE. Boring huh? But momma fixed rice mainly prepared as Mexican rice. (To this day that is still one of my favorite smells coming out of my kitchen. All the spices blended in with it just puts out great aromas!) Sometimes we would have rice pudding and other times plain ‘ol boiled rice.

Then came meeting the hubby and him being from northern Minnesota—in comes WILD RICE! Oh I love wild rice but I think I made it so often that my family doesn’t enjoy it as much as I still do. Oops!

Along came BASMATI RICE thanks to health & dietary awareness! My daughter actually loves basmati and I have enjoyed every way she’s every prepared it for us.

Then recently, my son’s girlfriend Jackie- introduced me to FORBIDDEN RICE! YUM!

So my rice love affair continues!

Are you bored yet? How about my rice pudding recipe?
I know rice pudding isn’t typical classified as a “comfort” food, but I remember my momma making it to help us feel better if we had a tummy ache or we were just not feeling well. So to me, it’s one of my “comfort” foods.

I played around with basmati and tapioca one night and it was so good! I thought I’d share it to see what you think.

TAPIOCA BASMATI RICE PUDDING

1 c. basmati
2 c. water
1 T. cornstarch
1 T. tapioca
2 T. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 to 2/3 c. milk
1/4 c. dried blueberries

Boil your rice in water. Cook til tender & drain. Add the blueberries in and return to stove. In a small dish combine your cornstarch, tapioca, sugar and cinnamon until blended. While on medium heat, sprinkle that mixture into the cooked rice and slowly stir in the milk. Continue to stir and cook until bubbly and you have a thick pudding. *If it’s too thick you can add more milk & vv. Remove from heat, spoon into dishes with a cinnamon dash.