Creamy Rice Pudding, Pressure Cooker Style

I get it. Not everyone owns a pressure cooker. The word "pressure" scares the bejeebies out of you. You might still be remembering horror stories of your grandmother's pressure cooker explosion, and seeing spaghetti hanging off her kitchen ceiling, with splatters of red tomato sauce. 

That was then. This is now. Over the years, pressure cookers have been improved, and even adapted as electric pressure cookers.  In the 10+ years that I've owned both a stovetop model and my beloved 8-Quart electric pressure cooker*, I have never, EVER had anything close to an explosion!
*Sadly, my Cook's Essential 8-Quarter Oval presssure cooker is no longer made or sold. Should it ever-- ahem-- break, I will be frantically searching for something comparable like this one.

Better yet, what I most love about my electric pressure cooker is that I can brown/sear/boil my ingredients in my non-stick pressure cooker pot.  I can then add my liquids, click on the lid, set how much time I want it to pressure cook and proceed to cleanup my kitchen or even sit down to relax, until I hear the "beep" that the work is finished. In about 25% of the time it would take to cook something on the stove (or braise in the oven), I can have dinner-- or in this case-- dessert  ready to enjoy.  How convenient is that?!

I have loved rice pudding for as long as I can remember.  If I had leftover white rice, I'd cook a package of vanilla pudding, add in the leftover rice, raisins and cinnamon.  My husband was never interested in joining me. He'd say that he didn't like the texture.  His loss, my gain.

Last week, I had a serious craving for rice pudding. It was bordering "obsessive".  I looked at my pressure cooker, and I realized that I had the perfect solution right in front of me!  I always keep a few boxes of Arborio rice in my pantry, so that I can make risotto.  The starchiness of this rice is perfect for making rice pudding.

I measured the rice, sugar and I added in a little cinnamon and a pinch of salt.

The last ingredient is whole milk.  I clicked on the lid, set the timer to 16 minutes on high. On the stove top, you would use a pot, put on the lid and cook this for an hour.

 

SIXTEEN MINUTES, folks!  The rice was cooked to perfection!   

 The last three ingredients added are half & half and pure vanilla  with two eggs whisked in...

Turning the PC to the sear/brown mode, the mixture was brought to a boil and stirred, then turned off.  I added one cup of golden raisins, which is optional. In our home, it's required!

There are two ways to enjoy rice pudding. Warm (my favorite way) or cold (not bad, but still doable).

Either way, the best way of all to enjoy rice pudding is with a spoon! 

TASTING NOTES:  I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the best rice pudding I've ever had! I ate this pudding, within moments of spooning it out of the pressure cooker. It was creamy, warm and comforting.  I love cinnamon, but only just enough so that the vanilla custard of the pudding took center stage.  I admit, that I ate both of these bowls, after photographing them. I felt no shame. I felt like a nagging scratch had been itched. 

About my husband: he enjoyed this rice pudding, as well.  Arborio rice is a much shorter grain than traditional white rice.  He also liked this, served warm.  I didn't hear one complaint about "texture". I do believe his is a rice pudding convert. My son, enjoyed this cold.  

I will add that, as the rice pudding cools, the creaminess begins to diminish and the pudding hardens. I discovered that if I spooned some hardened pudding into a bowl, added a splash of whole milk, and microwaved it for about 1 minute that the pudding became creamy all over again. 

Homemade rice pudding, in 16 minutes!  I could go on and on about the virtues of pressure cooking. I've shared my 40-minute flavorful and tender Boeuf Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy) on my blog.   On the stove/oven it takes about 3 hours.  What's not to love about pressure cooking?

I thank Barbara from "Pressure Cooking Today" for sharing this recipe. Barbara also shares the stovetop version on how to make this delicious recipe on her other blog "Barbara Bakes".  If you want to learn more about pressure cooking, her blog has a great selection of recipes to choose.  I also enjoy "Hip Pressure Cooking" and "Pressure Cooking with Lorna Sass" for more information about pressure cookers. 

I've got a few more pressure cooker recipes to share.  My PC has been kept busy making dinner for me, in 30 minutes or less.  

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