RECIPE: Rice Pudding with Tropical Flavors

Kitchen experiment today. We had a surprise visit from a friend who's lactose intolerant and our oven was out of commission (our super-fantastic neighbor remedied that later though, thank goodness). Note all measurements are very approximate.

I cooked a cup of basmati rice in 1 3/4 cup low fat coconut milk, with about 2-3 TB sugar, the zest of one lime, 2 TB chopped candied ginger and a pinch of salt. After the rice was done, I let it cool a bit and I added about 1/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple. I set that aside and let it cool to room temp.

Right before dessert, I melted about 2 TB unsalted butter in a pan and added 3 TB brown sugar. I let the sugar melt and sizzle a bit then threw in 2 thickly sliced large bananas. Saute the bananas about 4-5 minutes on each side over a medium-high heat, until they are brown and pour in about 3 TB dark rum and the juice of half of the naked lime. Cook long enough to let the alcohol burn off.

Serve rice pudding in a small bowl with about 1/4 banana mixture and some toasted coconut ribbons sprinkled on top.

Conclusion, it was pretty tasty especially for a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sort of thing. I think next time, I'll add more sugar in the beginning and some vanilla when the rice is done cooking. Also, maybe dried pineapple instead of fresh? I thought that the pudding would be better with full fat coconut milk, or a mixture of regular milk and coconut. It wasn't really pudding-like, more sticky than anything. The rice needed more liquid and I added water because I was out of coconut milk, perhaps that's part of my problem. The Boy liked it how it was though. The friend who I made it for had to leave before dessert, of course.