Celebrate NRM with Rice Pudding Crème Brûlée

September marks National Rice Month, the month-long celebration of this tiny, but mighty grain and I have a tasty new rice recipe for you all to try out in honor of the month. Cooking with U.S.-grown rice is something that I do often and it’s an ingredient I care about deeply. To be honest, I am still shocked that many people don’t know how much rice American farmers really grow or how many different rice varieties are produced here in the States (but that’s a topic for another blog post!) 

I love working with rice because it’s the perfect framework for both globally and regionally influenced dishes. It’s a pantry staple in many homes and restaurants for a reason, and that’s because rice is the perfect blank canvas for a wide range of cuisines and a great workhorse on any menu. Not to mention its one of the most inexpensive high-quality ingredients out there.  
 
For September’s National Rice Month, I wanted to create and share with you all a new rice recipe in celebration of all things rice! This recipe is really meant to highlight the flavor of the rice, but also some of the texture that can be achieved and utilized in a dessert form. It is the perfect marriage of two popular desserts that I love: crème brûlée and rice pudding.  

World, meet Rice Pudding Crème Brûlée! The perfect new dessert recipe to celebrate National Rice Month with.



This recipe has so many great textures, from the juiciness of brûlée peaches to the crunch of caramelized sugar gently cracked with a spoon. Beneath the brittle top of melted sugar and the rich and creamy layer of baked custard is a base of silky rice, which adds a delicate lightness to a traditionally heavy dish and leaves you looking forward to every last bite.  


I toasted U.S.-grown aromatic jasmine rice to infuse the custard with a warm, nutty flavor, then accented it with complementary hints of ginger and fresh bay leaf. Keeping the ginger whole makes it mild, and the fresh bay leaf’s herbal note subtly enhances the flavor of the toasted jasmine rice. This medium grain rice is the perfect foil for the dish and adds that great rice pudding texture without being overcooked and mushy. This isn’t your grandma’s rice pudding! She would love it, but this is an updated version for a modern cook. Enjoy, and Happy National Rice Month! 

Author Bio
This blog post comes from James Beard-nominated and Rising Starr Award-winning Chef who is a tremendous friend of the U.S. rice industry, Chef Hari Cameron. Chef Cameron specializes in fresh and local ingredients from the Mid-Atlantic and lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. To read other blog post from Hari, click here and here or to learn more about him, follow Hari at @haricam. 


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