Black Rice Pudding with Cherries

It’s slow to cook but the benefits of this food make it well worthwhile. One tip is to cook double the amount of rice for the first hour in boiling water… then use up half the amount as an accompaniment with a main meal of fish or curry. Set aside the other half to make this dessert for the following day and it seems more time efficient.

Black rice is being hailed as a super food with multiple health benefits form anti inflammatory, to an aid in preventing Alzeimers and various cancers.

Until recently black rice was difficult to come by; it had been highly treasured and protected in Asia for many centuries. It is also commonly used as a condiment, dressing, or as a decoration for different types of desserts in many countries around the world. High in nutritional value, black rice is rich in iron and high in fibre.

Ingredients

• 150g black rice
• 400ml can of coconut milk
• 1 teasp shredded ginger
• Pinch of salt
• Fresh ripe cherries

Preparation

1. Soak black rice overnight in 200ml water
2. Add an extra 100ml boiled water to black rice in a saucepan and cook for 1 hour over a medium heat, adding water every so often as the grains soak up the moisture.
3. Add the coconut milk, salt and ginger. Cook for a further 45 minutes over a low to medium heat until the grains have expanded and thickened the pudding. Since the grains contain the husk they are slower to swell and burst and release the starch content which acts as thickening agent.
4. Keep 8 of the cherries whole for decoration. Halve and stone the remaining cherries over the pudding allowing any juice to drizzle into the rice, giving it a nice pinkish colour.
5. Mix in the halved cherries through the pudding.
6. Serve in glass dishes, decorated with whole cherries.