My friend André wanted me to keep this recipe secret, isn’t he selfish? But it’s my mom’s recipe, (her mom’s before her) and she’s ok with sending it out to the world, so why not?

Update
I’m entering Arroz Doce in the Got Milk? food blogging event, promoting World Breastfeeding Week. Find out more about breastfeeding on www.breastfeeding.com

Mind you, André isn’t the only fan of this Arroz Doce recipe. It’s got such a legion of fans, I could even open up a fan club. And it’s so simple, I can just prepare it in a whiz in case of an emergency.

Arroz Doce is a traditional Portuguese rice pudding, but there are several variations out there, some of them with condensed milk, some with no eggs at all. This one is a very creamy custardy one. And also very sweet. (Be prepared to cut down on the sugar if you’re not a hardcore sweet tooth).

Arroz Doce

1 cup short grain white rice
5 cups water
1 slice lemon peel
1 tablespoon butter
A pinch of salt
2 cups hot milk (preferably whole)
2 cups sugar
5 egg yolks
Cinnamon do garnish

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil with the lemon peel, butter and pinch of salt.

Add the rice and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. When most of the water has evaporated, add the very hot milk. Simmer for 5 more minutes and add the sugar.

In a separate bowl, beat together the egg yolks and add a few spoonfuls of the rice mixture to temperate the egg yolks. Then add the now warm egg mixture to the saucepan and stir quickly until even.

Serve in a large dish or small shallow ramekins, and sprinkle with ground cinnamon to garnish.