I've got 2 cups of cold leftover cooked brown rice.  

Could I use it to make rice pudding?

Anyone have a tried and true recipe?

Has to be dairy free.

Soy, rice or almond milk is fine.  Don't want to use sugar.  Could I sweeten with dates maybe?

Don't know where to begin.  Never made rice pudding.  

Most rice pudding recipes I've found online start with leftover cooked rice. I used to make rice pudding all the time, pre BTD, and I've never tried it without sugar or milk.

I think you could just google a recipe for rice pudding and substitute soy or almond milk for the milk it calls for, and maybe agave in place of the sugar? I've tried making rice pudding with rice milk and it just wasn't creamy enough- IME, you really need something other than rice milk to make rice pudding. Otherwise it's just rice with rice flavor.

You can totally do it with cooked rice, but I don't have a recipe for you.  I only ever used cow or goat milk.  

Maybe an extra-thick homemade almond milk made by soaking almonds overnight, blending very well with water, straining and mixing with the cooked rice.  If dates are ok for you, that sounds good and they could be blended or added chopped.  A beaten egg would help to bind everything together and a bit of sweet compliant spice - cardamom, nutmeg, whatever is compliant.  You could bake it.  Good luck and have fun!  

Not too long ago, we had a thread discussing rice pudding...  Let's see if I can find it.

Here is one that might help some -
http://www.dadamo.com/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1287669635/s-16/highlight-rice+pudding/#num16

Here is a re-post of something I posted Feb. 2010 - since your rice is already cooked, you'd have to start with warming up the rice with whatever liquid and spices you desire...:

Quoted Text

I literally made brown rice - 1/2 c. rice and 1 c. water...  I don't remember if I added any cinnamon, but probably about 1/2 t.  When the rice was done, I added several (somewhat mashed) home-canned fresh figs, and maybe a heaping tablespoon or two of creamy peanut butter and stirred it up.  If it is too stiff, add a bit more water or fruit juice until you like it.  It needs a certain amount of free water to mix with the oil to make a white creamy look...

If the fruit needs to be cooked, I would add a bit more water and put the fruit in before the rice to let it stew while the rice cooks...

As you can see, I think about what food / spice combination would taste good and provide the right textures and then cook by feel...  I rarely measure anything accurately, and recipes are only guidelines and ideas for me...

Thanks everyone....

Regarding the suggestion of adding a beaten egg....when is it added? To warmed rice with liquid or to
cold cooked rice?  And am I baking this whole mixture?  I guess the question is really how to avoid eating a raw egg or winding up with scrambled eggs.

To avoid scrambled eggs, never dump beaten eggs into a hot dish or it will immediately scramble.  How and when you add it depends on the recipe you are going to use.

Unless you are going to try for a stove-top pudding (which may be difficult since you are dealing with grains), you'll most likely be making a baked pudding.  You'll still need to choose a recipe.  Have you done a search of the Forum Recipes?  Or a general Google search for rice pudding recipes?

You can whip up the beaten egg with whatever liquid you are using and then fold that in with the (maybe room temperature) rice.  For example, you could make a quicky almond milk by dissolving a heaping Tb of almond butter with some water, I don't know- maybe 1/2 cup?  and blend the egg with this.  But you should get a recipe that sounds good to you if none of the Forum members have one.

Quoted from Chloe

I guess the question is really how to avoid eating a raw egg or winding up with scrambled eggs.

You can temper the beaten eggs by adding a tablespoon or so of the hot material to the egg and stir it together, then add it all back to the hot and stir it in.  

So what I did (but haven't tasted it yet) was to add 3 cups of rice milk plus a little ghee to the leftover rice and simmered it on the stove top....then added 1/4 cup of powdered agave plus 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of vanilla...I beat 2 eggs in a separate bowl and added a little bit of the warm milk to temper it (never tempered anything before)....but then poured the eggs back into the warm mixture and put it into a ceramic dish and baked it until set.

It smells delicious but I haven't tasted it yet.

With all your help, I think I might have actually made rice pudding!  Very easy!

Thanks

Sounds great, Chloe...  I hope you enjoy it!

I've saved your recipe, Chloe. Let us know if you decide it needs any adjustments after tasting!

I think it's an adjustment I can't quite figure out.  The two eggs made it stay solid....but I wished
it was creamier in texture. I find those pieces of cooked brown rice to be too "rice-y"and although there's enough sweetness..(forgot to mention that I added 2 chopped dates)...

I was wondering if I should have taken the warm milk mixture with the rice and run it through my
blender for a few seconds...to break up some of the rice.

And I wonder if I had allowed the milk to cook with the rice in it for about 30 minutes even though I was going to bake in the oven mixed with 2 eggs, would it have cooked the rice to a better consistency?  I know white rice would have become more mushy...but brown rice is what I had left over.

I think I used a bit too much milk...so perhaps consider 2  cups of milk to about 1 1/2 cups of
rice as a better ratio.  The two eggs were what made it become solid.  When I took it out of the
oven, it was still kind of "wet"...but solidified a lot in the refrigerator overnight.  It tastes really
good. My sweetness level is perfect...and the cinnamon and vanilla are realistic measurements.

But you know...real rice pudding made with heavy cream has this soft  pudding texture...and I can't figure out how to achieve that consistency without using cream.  Perhaps this is as good
as it gets...It tasted really good, I have to say!  Just wasn't thrilled with it being a little chewy.

I wonder if your idea of processing some of the rice might do the trick.

If you blend the milk and rice, I would do it cold, before you start to heat it.

Maybe reduce the egg to 1 for a less solid effect.

You could add some ghee for a little more smooth, creamy mouth feel.  Sorry, I missed this in the original recipe post...  I don't know whether it could use more or not...

I'm a fan of blending ingredients for uniform texture and smoothness.  That sounds like a good idea - blending some or all of the rice with whatever milk you are using.  It could be more like a pudding.

It sounds like one problem may be in the nature of rice to get more firm if it's kept after cooling and then used later by reheating.  I don't know if it would get soft again if simmered with the milk.  Worth a try.  Or if you plan to use the same kind of rice the next time you make pudding, try using more liquid when you cook the rice.

Thanks for suggestions... I did add a little ghee but any more would have made it oily, unless
it went into the blender, I think.  I saw a bit of "oil" on the sides of the baking dish when I
took it out of the oven...so the oil does separate unless carefully emulsified into liquid.... and I think I only used about 2 tsps of ghee.

I'm also thinking the watery consistency of rice milk might might have been an issue. Next time, I think a thicker home made almond milk might be a better option and could produce a creamier pudding texture.  Wondered if a little corn starch or arrowroot would work as it's often used
in making chocolate pudding.

Blending ingredients is probably going to be what I will do next time...breaking down the kernels
of rice.  I was using long grain brown rice.  I'll bet a short grain would turn out creamier.  I think
it's starchier....

It's still very tasty...but often having the perfect texture matters just as much as the flavor.

I was thinking maybe a little tapioca pudding for a thickener.  Also thought, maybe blend half the rice alone with part of the almond milk, then mix in with original recipe, but not sure if stove top cooking is necessary.
I would suggest a covered deep casserole dish, and oven about 325, for 45-60 minutes.  Maybe stir half way through the cooking in oven, and see if more liquid is needed. Sounds good.

Quoted from Chloe

I did add a little ghee but any more would have made it oily, unless
it went into the blender, I think.  I saw a bit of "oil" on the sides of the baking dish when I took it out of the oven...so the oil does separate unless carefully emulsified into liquid.... and I think I only used about 2 tsps of ghee.

Might need some lecithin to emulsify the oil from the ghee...

Chloe,
Perhaps these two links might help you out.

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=6212

http://yellowscene.com/2010/03/15/lehndorffs-recipe-for-rice-pudding/

geminisue, didn't think of tapioca....have to see if it's listed on my SWAMI.  It's from a cassava
root, I just googled to find out....Neutral for type A on typebase so I'm sure it's fine to use.

Lecithin...good idea, ABjoe...definitely can use lecithin...it's a diamond.

Chloe, here is a recipe that is simple and may be what you were looking for: http://www.slashfood.com/2006/09/10/rice-pudding-with-leftover-rice/
It seems that more milk is the answer to making it more creamy. The picture looks delish! I used to make egg custard with soy milk that was very nice and creamy. So I would think that rice could easily be added with more milk to an egg custard. I am getting hungrier and hungrier for some egg custard after reading all this about rice pudding!!

Oh, another thing. The absolute best rice pudding I ever ate in my life had cheese added to it! The friend who made it all the time died some years ago, and I never thought to ask for her recipe. But I don't think it would be hard to duplicate. I don't know what cheeses you can have, but I think she used a sharp cheddar. It figures that I would like it because I love buttermilk or yogurt egg custard.  

My mother used to add raisins, cinnamon, and a little sugar to left-over white rice to make the pudding. Then she would add a little milk to the individual bowls before we ate. That was before I knew I was allergic to dairy. I would think honey or agave could be substituted as a sweetener and use alternative milk. My mother-in-law would mix eggs and sugar and milk with the left-over white rice and bake it. It was good, but there again, I'm allergic to eggs.  

To make it creamier, you want to use more liquid and more cooking time before adding any eggs. You also might have used too many eggs for the proportions in the recipe. Too many eggs makes it more like a custard and less like a pudding. The recipe I used to use called for a quart of milk and only 1 egg, and I think 1 cup of cooked rice, although it might have been only half a cup. OK, I just double-checked an actual cookbook we have. It calls for 5 cups milk, 1 cup uncooked rice (so about a cup of cooked rice) and one egg (plus sugar and vanilla and heavy cream.) You never did say how much cooked rice you had leftover.

Definitely use almond or soy milk rather than rice milk- get the extra fat and creaminess without the oil just separating out.

I've seen two kinds of rice pudding recipes. There are some where you blend all ingredients and then bake for a long time, maybe 2 hours- longer total cooking time but less prep time.  No need to temper the egg- just blend everything together, cold or room temp, and bake.

Other recipes call for standing there at the stove stirring every 1-5 minutes. This helps break up any starchy bits, and you can add more liquid as needed if it seems to be getting too thick before the rice gets creamy enough. Then, when it's just about done, you temper the egg and stir it back in for another 5 minutes or so of cooking, stirring constantly. This method takes less time total (maybe 30-45 minutes) but you need to stand there at the stove almost the whole time.

I suspect that the ghee wouldn't have separated out if you'd used the "stand at the stove and stir" method.

Quoted from Spring

Chloe, here is a recipe that is simple and may be what you were looking for: http://www.slashfood.com/2006/09/10/rice-pudding-with-leftover-rice/
It seems that more milk is the answer to making it more creamy. The picture looks delish! I used to make egg custard with soy milk that was very nice and creamy. So I would think that rice could easily be added with more milk to an egg custard. I am getting hungrier and hungrier for some egg custard after reading all this about rice pudding!!

Spring, thanks for that link .......I'm posting it so we can all see it.  This goes along with what Ruthie was saying...cooking it longer with MORE liquid.....and I really like this version because it doesn't use eggs. It's got a bit more sugar than I'd want to use and mine turned out very sweet with just 2 dates plus 1/4 cup of powdered agave...but I'm going to try this recipe when my other batch is used up. Mine tasted really good...just not happy with the texture.  This might be the
improvement I'm looking for.

Leftover Rice Rice Pudding

2 cups leftover cooked white rice
3 cups milk (any kind)*
1/2 cup sugar
small pinch salt
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
pinch nutmeg, optional

Combine cooked rice, milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and stir in the vanilla and raisins. Cook until just about all of the milk is absorbed (30-45 minutes, depending on how absorbent your rice is). Stir in cinnamon and/or nutmeg, if using.

Divide rice pudding into individual serving dishes serve warm or chilled.
Makes 4-6 servings.

*Note: Sometimes I add an extra 1/2 cup of milk, if the rice seems unusually firm or dry, to make it creamier. Feel free to add a bit extra if the pudding is not as creamy as you like it. You can use nonfat, lowfat, whole or soy milk in this recipe.

Chloe, I have never cooked brown rice with the idea of making it more creamy, so I don't know whether you might still need to process a little of it to make a smoother finished product or not. I will have to try to find the thread with all the rice cooking info on it! But I am going to make this when I get all my ducks in a row!