“Arroz con Leche” – Rice Pudding
We Visited Inka Fé – Restaurant Review
This post is a sum up of our visit to Inka Fé, a Peruvian bakery in Great Neck, Long Island
“Caigua Rellena”
Caigua, stuffed with beef, and veggies, served over rice.
“Anticuchos”
Beef heart skewers, marinated in spices and in a Peruvian pepper paste, served with potatoes/corn with a spicy sauce.
“Seco de Mariscos”
“Seco de Mariscos”, is a creamy stew with some seafood, great aroma, and texture in one quick dish.
“Lasagna de Ají de Gallina”
Ají de Gallina (Creamy spicy hen stew) turned into a Lasagna
“Pollo a la Brasa”
Peruvian blackened chicken, rotisserie chicken, one of the most iconic Peruvian dishes.
“Causa Escabechada”
Causa Escabechada, Spicy Sour Potato dough, served with Fish Escabeche on top
“Chupe de Camarones”
Chupe de Camarones, Peruvian style shrimp soup, has a thick texture, has some sweet, spicy, flavors.
“Kam Lu Wantan”
Chifa dish, saute meats and veggies served with a sweet-sour tamarind sauce and wontons.
“Pan con Chicharron”
Pan con chicharron is a pork belly sandwich, full of textures and flavors!
This is probably my fathers favorite dessert, Rice Pudding, in Peru we know it as “Arroz con Leche” , at home this dessert was made in almost every celebration, I developed a love hate relationship with this dessert due to the fact that I had to eat it often and since my family prepared it to just “feed” the guest I had hard times eating this dessert. It got into a point in which I did not want to eat it anymore, years passed I finished Culinary school and to pass the graduation exam I had to present a 3 course meal, the desserts one of the Chefs suggested was “Arroz con Leche” ( I had to present it with a twist), I could not belive it, at first I felt confident about presenting that dessert since I knew it pretty well, but then I realized that I never had the opportunity to eat a “good Arroz con Leche”. To be prepared for the exam I had to cook Arroz con leche multiple times, I ate in different places hopping to find “the ultimate Arroz con Leche” but sadly I could not find it, there was always something I did not like, most of them were too wattery, others just too sweet, others the onlything you could taste were the condensed milk.
"Arroz con Leche"
Equipment
- Pot
Ingredients
- 2 Cups of Evaporated Milk
- 1 can of Condensed Milk
- 1.5 cups of Rice
- 4 Cloves
- 3 Cinnamon Sticks Ceylon cinnamon
- 1 Star Anise
- Peel of half orange
- 1/2 cup of Shredder Coconut
- 2 Egg yolks
- 1 cup of Raisins
- 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon powder Ceylon cinnamon
- pinch of Salt
Instructions
- Bring to a Boil the orange peel , let it boil for 1 min then discard water and boil it again whit more water, repeat the same process for 3 times, then reserve.
- Rinse your rice for about 2 min , add to your rice with 3 cups of water, Cloves , Cinnamon sticks, orange peel, shredder coconut, star anise and a pinch of salt, let it cook in low/medium heat for 20 min.
- Once its cooked remove , remove star anise, cloves and cinnamon then add milk, condensed milk give it a stir and let it cook for 5 to 7 min in a medium / low heat.
- In a bowl beat some egg yolks and integrate with some of the milk and rice mix, then add the yolks to the “Arroz con Leche” and turn the heat off but keep stirring for at least 3 min, add raisins, sprinkle some cinnamon powder and its good to go
After months of trial and error, I developed a good recipe for “Arroz con Leche” I had to present it in a different way for my exam and I decided to roll with Rice Pudding Icreceam. The Chefs loved it, I felt proud and I never cooked Arroz con leche again…
Friends asked me for the recipe and that is why I am cooking this dessert again so others can try this delicious recipe, it’s a simple dish full of aromas and flavor.
This dessert is more than just Milk + Rice, you can get complex textures and aromas by adding eggyolks, cream or lemon/orange zest, star anise, ceylon cinnammon, etc.
If you want you can add more flavor by soaking the raisins on a liquor of your choise.
For some people it might be just “rice pudding” for me is a dish that can be really complex if you put a bit of love on making it.
The funny thing about this story is that my dad never got tired of this dish and he enjoyed (eating the different “not perfect rice puddings I made) those months when I was testing recipes of Rice pudding.
Comment below if you like Rice Pudding and how do you prepare it at home?
3 Comments
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- "Arroz Zambito" - Recipe | Peru - Receta - Chewing Happiness - […] this singular dessert, it was my first time trying it and I instantly loved it, it was like Rice…
I love rice pudding too!
Glad to know!
It’s nearly impossible to find well-informed people for this subject, however, you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks