Coconut Rice Pudding

My mom came home from the grocery store the other day with coconut water.  She told my brother and I that she was going to make us drink it because she heard how good for you it was.  It was like a repeat of the time she became obsessed with kale.  I know coconut water has been “in” for a while but I never wanted to try it due to my bad experience drinking out of a coconut in Nicaragua.  The coconut water was disgusting.  Anyways, I decided to try the drink and was pleasantly surprised.  I liked it.  I started thinking of a coconut dessert other than coconut cake.  My dad likes rice pudding so I thought it would be a nice thing to make it for him.  This pudding also has a crispy coconut topping and is made with vanilla bean.

Ingredients:

Crispy Coconut Topping:

• 1 egg white
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups sweetened coconut shavings

Pudding:

• 2 cans light unsweetened coconut milk (27 ounces)
• 1 can regular unsweetened coconut milk (13.5 ounces)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup jasmine rice (regular rice is also fine)
• 2/3 cup of sweetened coconut shavings
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• Seeds of one vanilla bean
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:

Crispy Coconut Topping:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
2. Combine egg whites, and vanilla in a bowl
3. In a large bowl mix the coconut and egg mixture well
4. Spread coconut mixture on a baking sheet and bake about 20 minutes or until coconut is crispy.

Pudding:

1. Combine light coconut milk, regular coconut milk, vanilla extract, vanilla bean, salt, and sugar in a large pot.
2. Add coconut and uncooked rice.
3. Bring the mixture to a bowl on high heat.
4. Then reduce to a simmer for about 1 hour or until pudding has set.
5. Serve with crispy coconut as a garnish.

This dessert is great and extremely fragrant.  Give it a try!

Enjoy!,

Lizzie