Comfort Food: Brown Rice Pudding

When I was little, and my paternal great-grandma was still alive, we went to visit her at “the farm” (which was a fully operational farm in my grandpa’s youth) a few times every year. I have strong sensory memories of her and of those visits. In those days, the white frame farmhouse (in which my grandparents still live, but which has been significantly remodeled) had a screened-in back porch where you could sit in the evening, listening to the crickets chirping and watching hundreds of fireflies light up the yard. There was a cold storage room and a cellar – just what you’d expect a Michigan farmhouse to have.

I don’t have too many food-related memories of my great-grandma, but I do remember that she was the only person I knew who ate leftover rice the way most people eat cereal – cold, with milk and brown sugar on it. When I was visiting, she would always make a bowl for me, too. To this day, it’s comfort food to me, as is its cousin, rice pudding.

I didn’t grow up eating rice pudding, but when I encountered it for the first time, I instantly loved it because it reminded me of my great-grandma. The flavors are similar, but while I still eat the occasional bowl of leftover rice with milk and brown sugar, I think rice pudding is an even better way to use up leftover rice. It’s healthy and delicious, easy to make, and can serve as breakfast or dessert. It can be served warm or cold, depending on your preference.

I use brown rice because its fiber content is higher – white rice (which has had the outer hull removed) has a higher glycemic index and turns to sugar much faster in your bloodstream – I stay away from it the same way I stay away from white flour most of the time. Remember to start with cooked rice – Barbara Kingsolver tells a good story in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about making rice pudding with uncooked rice, but I’m sure her crunchy results are not what you want.


Brown Rice Pudding