Multigrain rice pudding with cardamom apricots
<p>This can be made a day in advance and stored in the fridge.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Serves:</span></strong> 6</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ingredients: </span></strong></p>
<ul>
<li>30g butter</li>
<li>100g risotto rice</li>
<li>50g brown rice</li>
<li>50g quinoa (I used red)</li>
<li>1.25 litres milk</li>
<li>1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste</li>
<li>Zest of 1 lemon (I used a sweet Meyer lemon – do your best to get one too!)</li>
<li>125g neutral-flavoured honey (substitute with sugar)</li>
<li>¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice</li>
<li>1 teaspoon cardamom seeds (bash a few cardamom pods to open them and remove the seeds)</li>
<li>12 apricots, halved, stones removed</li>
<li>2 tablespoons golden caster sugar</li>
<li>½ cup thick Greek-style yoghurt</li>
<li>⅔ cup cream</li>
<li>75g pistachio nuts, shelled</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Method:</span></strong></p>
<p>1. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the rices and quinoa and toast for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the milk a little at a time and stir continuously for about 25 minutes or until all the grains are cooked through and the milk absorbed. </p>
<p>2. Add the vanilla bean paste, lemon zest and honey and stir until combined. Set aside to cool (this rice pudding is eaten cold so can be made the day before and stored in the fridge). </p>
<p>3. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Pour the orange juice into an ovenproof dish, scatter over the cardamom seeds then add the apricots to the dish, cut side up.</p>
<p>4. Scatter with the sugar and roast for 30 minutes or until the apricots are soft but still holding their shape. </p>
<p>5. Remove from the oven and transfer the apricots to a plate. Pour the liquid from the dish into a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes or until syrupy. Strain and set aside. </p>
<p>6. When you're ready to serve, stir the yoghurt into the rice pudding.</p>
<p>7. Lightly whip the cream and stir in, then divide the pudding among 6 dishes, top with the apricot halves, drizzle with the syrup and scatter with the pistachio nuts to serve. </p>
<p><em>Written by Emma Boyd. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>. Image credit: Emma Boyd via Stuff.co.nz. </em></p>
