Cooking With Our Guests, Greek Recipes, Mary Valle
Mary’s Rizogalo – Greek Rice Pudding Recipe
KO’s latest video offers 2 recipes – the first is a beautiful rizogalo (rice pudding) recipe shared by the talented cook and cookbook author Mary Valle. Mary’s rizogalo has the perfect combination of al-dente rice bathed in sweet, creamy milk and seasoned necessarily with cinnamon. It is simple and delicious and you will definitely want to add this to your cooking repertoire!
The other recipe we are sharing with you is ‘the recipe of life’! The recipe of life combines three essential ingredients: purpose, passion and perseverance, and seasons them liberally with serendipity and chutzpah. Mary Valle’s story of becoming a cookbook author and workshop facilitator embodies this recipe perfectly – a journey where life offered Mary natural opportunities to explore her interests; required her to remain focused and persistent; and challenged her to push through openings requiring a leap of faith and steadfast gutsiness!
Watch Mary’s video and learn about both recipes… and Mary’s hidden talent!
Mary’s Rizogalo - Greek Rice Pudding Recipe
Mary’s rizogalo has the perfect combination of al-dente rice bathed in sweet, creamy milk and seasoned of course with cinnamon. It is simple and delicious and you will definitely want to add this to your cooking repertoire!
Ingredients
You will need…
- ½ cup medium grain rice
- 1 cup water
- 3 ½ cups milk
- 2 level tablespoons cornflour
- ½ cup caster sugar
- Cinnamon for dusting
Instructions
Preparing the rizogalo
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Add the rice and water to a medium sized pot. Bring to the boil and continue to boil till almost all of the water is absorbed
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Dissolve the cornflour in ½ cup of milk and add this to the pot, along with the remaining 3 cups of milk
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Add the sugar to the pot
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Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer
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Simmer the rizogalo, while stirring continuously, until the milk thickens and the rice is cooked to almost al dente
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Using a ladle, divide the rizogalo evenly between four small bowls
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Dust with cinnamon and allow to cool and set for an hour or so
Serving the rizogalo
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Enjoy this creamy, rice delight for breakfast, for a sweet dinner or dessert!!
Recipe Video
Key Points
- Only use medium grain rice
- You must stir the rizogalo continuously, otherwise the milk will catch at the base of the pot and there will be small, brown-tinged custard fragments in the mixture. These don’t affect the taste, but they do impact the texture and aesthetic
- It is really important not to undercook or overcook the rice. If you undercook the rice, it will have a crunchy texture. If you overcook the rice, the rice grains will ‘split’ and have a mushy texture. Neither is good!
The mouth-feel of the rice when you are eating the rizogalo should be distinct grains of rice, with a little firmness to the tooth (al dente), that are coated in a sweet, creamy, milky yumminess. To achieve this, you need to keep your eye on the rice and test it. As the milk begins to thicken and the rice grains begin to enlarge, pick out a grain of rice and bite on it to see how cooked it is. Keep doing this until it is almost al dente.
As the rizogalo cools and sets in the serving bowls, it will continue to absorb moisture from the creamy milk and reach al dente.
- I love the purity and elegant simplicity of the flavours and textures in this rizogalo recipe and I enjoy it immensely as is, but for those who like to enhance the flavour of their rizogalo, you can add a teaspoon of vanilla extract; the zest of half a lemon; or even a few pieces of mastic resin towards the end of the simmering stage for a completely different flavour profile