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    Home / Desserts / Custards & Puddings

    Coconut Cardamom Arroz con Leche

    Published Nov 16, 2009

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    bowl of arroz con leche

    My favorite kinds of breakfasts are ones that also double as dessert. Though commonly eaten as an after dinner treat in Latin America, an extremely talented cook named Nancy makes arroz con leche every morning at the band camp that the doc and I attend every summer. There's nothing better than a bowl warm, sweet, creamy rice infused with cinnamon and dotted with plump raisins on a foggy, cold morning under the redwoods when you've been up dancing til 4 am the night before.

    close up of arroz con leche

    Although I woke up indoors this morning, to a crisp, sunny dawn (ok, it was 10:30), after going to bed at midnight after watching the Colbert Report on Hulu, arroz con leche sounded like just the ticket.

    Sweetened condensed milk, commonly called for in arroz con leche, scares me. Why would I use scary, sticky, canned dairy when I can get organic, Strauss creamery milk that comes in a gorgeous glass bottle, and this unrefined hippie sugar I found at Rainbow?
    pack of sugar
    'Herbally purified,' it claims to be... hmmmm, I wonder what herb they could be talking about???
    bowl of cardamom seeds
    Milk shouldn't be shelf stable - that's just wrong. It should be kept in a refrigerator, like God intended. Canned coconut milk, on the other hand, that's ok by me. I like putting coconut milk in just about everything. Coconut milk makes me think of cardamom, so I decided to add that to my arroz this morning, along with some vanilla bean. Pretty fantastic, if you ask me. Jay scarfed it down and went back for seconds; and he doesn't even like rice pudding. So there you have it.
    jar of rice

    For more pudding recipes:

    • Chocolate Pudding {vegan option}
    • Maple Pumpkin Pudding Chômeur {gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free option}
    • Maple Chestnut Pudding Chômeurs {gluten-free}
    • Butterscotch Pudding

    *Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram,  Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this arroz con leche recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet  and  #bojongourmet.*

    arroz con leche in a bowl
    4.41 from 5 votes

    Arroz con Leche with Coconut Milk, Cardamom and Vanilla

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    A recipe for elevated rice pudding!
    Alanna Taylor-Tobin
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 50 minutes
    Total: 1 hour
    Servings: 4 servings

    Ingredients

    • 1 tablespoon butter
    • 1/2 cup white Jasmine or Basmati rice, rinsed briefly in a strainer
    • 3" cinnamon stick
    • 5 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
    • 14 oz. can coconut milk
    • 1 cup whole milk
    • 1 cup water (or additional milk)
    • 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
    • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
    • 1/4 cup sugar or sweetener of your choice
    • 1/3 cup raisins or currants

    Instructions

    • Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the rice, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 - 2 minutes. Add the milks, water, vanilla bean pod and scrapings and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring every few minutes, until the rice is very tender and the liquid has thickened somewhat, 20 - 30 minutes.
    • Add the sugar and raisins. Cook 5 - 10 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until thickened to your liking. Let stand off the heat for 10 minutes before serving. It will continue to thicken as it sits, so thin with a little milk if you like.
    • This rice pudding is best served slightly warm. Store in the fridge for up to several days.

    Notes

    Nutritional values are based on one of four servings.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 470kcalCarbohydrates: 51gProtein: 6gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 365mgPotassium: 495mgFiber: 4gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 185IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 113mgIron: 2.6mg
    Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!

    Arroz con Leche with Coconut Milk, Cardamom and Vanilla

    Makes 4 servings
    Time: about 1 hour

    1 tablespoon butter
    1/2 cup white Jasmine or Basmati rice, rinsed briefly in a strainer
    3" cinnamon stick
    5 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
    14 oz. can coconut milk
    1 cup whole milk
    1 cup water (or additional milk)
    1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
    1/2 teaspoon sea salt
    1/4 cup sugar or sweetener of your choice
    1/3 cup raisins or currants

    Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the rice, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 - 2 minutes. Add the milks, water, vanilla bean pod and scrapings and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring every few minutes, until the rice is very tender and the liquid has thickened somewhat, 20 - 30 minutes.

    Add the sugar and raisins. Cook 5 - 10 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until thickened to your liking. Let stand off the heat for 10 minutes before serving. It will continue to thicken as it sits, so thin with a little milk if you like.

    This rice pudding is best served slightly warm. Store in the fridge for up to several days.

    bowl of arroz con leche

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    the cover of the award-winning cookbook, Alternative Baker

    Hungry for more?

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. CHANTAL SALPETRIER says

      May 01, 2013 at 8:39 pm

      hello
      I love rice pudding so much since I'am from the Caribbean, but with the Cardamon I will give it a try
      thank you for sharing

      Reply
      • Alanna says

        May 01, 2013 at 8:48 pm

        You're welcome! I'm a cardamom junkie and use it whenever I get the chance. Let us know how you like it. :)

        Reply
    2. LadyElectron says

      May 11, 2013 at 5:16 pm

      Somehow, I doubled the rice without doubling the liquid, but it was good anyway! The coconut, vanilla and cardamom are delicious together!

      Reply
      • Alanna says

        May 12, 2013 at 4:50 pm

        I'm so glad it turned out well! I love those flavors together, too. Thanks for the note. :)

        Reply
    3. Katherine says

      February 25, 2015 at 4:09 pm

      I have a serious problem with this post: your Pomelmet link is broken. How am I to server this delightful, appealing recipe to guests if my cats aren't wearing their Pomelmets?

      Reply
      • Katherine says

        February 25, 2015 at 4:11 pm

        Geez all that work and I posted to the wrong post!! Moving to the proper location...

        Reply
    4. The Mistress of Spices says

      June 13, 2015 at 7:16 am

      I'm totally making this for dessert tonight...seems like arroz doce with an Indian twist!

      Reply
      • Alanna says

        June 19, 2015 at 8:01 am

        Totally! Let me know how you like it. :)

        Reply
    5. Katherine says

      March 06, 2018 at 11:19 am

      Made it in a rice cooker - lazy girl! Forgot the butter (duh, first ingredient) probably because I skipped straight to throwing everything into the rice cooker. I did use the porridge setting and less liquid initially (all the coconut milk plus 1/2 c milk). Added agave and raisins when rice was finished and let it sit 10 minutes.

      And yum, yum, yum. As always.

      Reply
      • Alanna says

        March 06, 2018 at 3:48 pm

        Thanks for sharing your rice cooker method - GENIUS. So glad you liked it!!

        Reply

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