Name: Sous Vide Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango and Basil
Total time: 3 h 55 min
Ingredients: 2 cups whole milk; 1 14-ounce can coconut milk; 1/2 cup sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom; 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger; 1/2 cup long-grain white rice; 1/2 mango , peeled, pitted, and cut into ¼-inch pieces; 3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut , toasted; 1/4 cup shredded fresh basil

Why This Recipe Works

All you need to do for this dish is cook rice, liquid, and sugar until the mixture is nice and soft and you're good to go. Rice is rich in starch that, when broken down, forms a gel in solution—and that translates to a creamy pudding. But since most rice puddings get cooked on the stovetop, there is a fair bit of intuition involved in nailing the perfect consistency. Stir too little and your pudding ends up lumpy. Use too much heat and you risk over-reducing your pudding and scorching your saucepan. The amount of evaporation varies depending on the size of your pot, meaning the finished texture can vary. Making rice pudding sous vide removes all of the guesswork. There's no evaporation, resulting in a consistent texture every time. And because we were not cooking on the stovetop, there was no need to stir nonstop until the very end. We went with a Thai-inspired flavor profile that's heavy on coconut with a touch of ginger and cardamom. To give this dessert some crunch and variety, we topped our pudding with plenty of toasted coconut flakes, mango, and some fresh basil.

Before You Begin

Be sure to double bag the rice mixture to protect against seam failure. For more about sous vide cooking, refer to our sous vide guide.

Instructions

Using sous vide circulator, bring water to 200°F/93°C in 7-quart container.

Whisk milk, coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, cardamom, and ginger in bowl until sugar has dissolved. Transfer milk mixture and rice to 1-gallon zipper-lock freezer bag. Seal bag, pressing out as much air as possible. Place bag in second 1-gallon zipper-lock freezer bag and seal. Gently lower bag into prepared water bath until rice is fully submerged, and then clip top corner of bag to side of water bath container, allowing remaining air bubbles to rise to top of bag. Reopen 1 corner of zipper, release remaining air bubbles, and reseal bag. Cover and cook for at least 1½ hours or up to 2 hours.

Transfer rice mixture to bowl and stir vigorously to break up any lumps of rice; discard any lumps that remain. Cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 4 hours.

Stir pudding to recombine. Sprinkle individual portions with mango, coconut, and basil and serve.TO MAKE AHEAD: Pudding can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.