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A cross between rice meal and rice pudding topped with soaked almond slivers.

Many of you have written to say how anxious you are to hear Part 2 of my “An Evening of Food Poisoning” story from last week. But considering it’s Christmas Eve I didn’t think my-near-death-by-pasta experience was the merriest of messages I could send.

Instead, I have a delicious recipe you can make for your family and friends over the holiday season. My publisher, John Manley, has been refining this recipe over the last year. While it makes a great breakfast or desert for the Christmas season it’s a staple in his household all year long (much in demand by his three-year old son).

It’s a nutritious cross between rice pudding and rice meal with a lot of healthy twists.

It does involve a lot of milk. I know many people tend to avoid milk for various reasons. It also involves cooking milk – which many people regard as some type of sin.

Truth be told, as I explain in an upcoming Future Health Now! Modules, cooking pasteurized milk is probably a very good idea. The milk has already been cooked (to pasteurize it) so the whole raw aspect is gone. But cooking it again helps ensure you kill off any mold, bacteria or yeast that may have grown since the pasteurization process. Re-cooking pasteurized dairy products can eliminate some or all of the allergenic effect.

And, of course,  I recommend you use organic, non-homogenized, WHOLE milk (see Module 13).  The recipe will probably taste best with cow’s milk– but you’re welcome to try it with goat’s (or sheep’s, buffalo’s, camel’s… Yes, camel’s milk! One of our Future Health Now! members in Saudi Arabia enjoys unpasteurized camel’s milk.)

It’s best to use brown rice – not white. It will produce a nuttier taste and provide more fiber to keep your colon healthy and your blood sugar down.

It’s important to soak the rice as per the instructions below. It’ll cook faster and easier and come out much softer and creamier. In an upcoming Future Health Now! module I discuss how soaking your grains helps make them much more digestible.

Likewise, soak the almond toppings. These add a nice enzyme-rich cruncky topping. But it’s a good idea to remove the skins as they are quite hard to digest. As you’ll see the skins pop off quite easily when soaked (see Module 16).

The recipe also uses cardamom. In India cardamom is known as the “Queen of Spices.” It’s important, though, to make sure you freshly grind the cardamom. Not only is it a whole lot cheaper to buy cardamom pods but the flavor will be so much stronger than buying ground cardamom. Once exposed to air cardamom has a poor shelf life – you end up having to use five times as much to get one-third the taste.

And for some added bioflavonoids make sure to grate into the bubbling pudding half an orange rind. This really gives the aromatic essence of Christmas.

The flavor of orange zest blends really well with the dates which provide a natural source of sweetener for the pudding. If six dates are not sweet enough for you, you can always add some stevia extract or raw honey at the end.

Here’s the recipe. Enjoy… and share!

HEALTHY RICE PUDDING

Makes 4 2-cup servings

1 cup of brown rice
6 cups of organic, non-homogenized, whole milk
20 raw almonds
6 dates
6 cardamom pods
¼ teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon of ground ginger.
½ orange
Butter (optional)

1. (DAY BEFORE) Triple rinse rice in a bowl of water by filling and then straining three times.

2. Place rice in blender and grind.

3. Add 2 cups of milk to rice in blender and puree for 30 seconds.

4. Pour rice and milk mixture into pot.

5. Add more milk to the blender and puree with any remaining ground rice that stuck to the sides of the blender.

6. Pour remaining milk into pot.

7. Chop up dates and add to pot.

8. Cover and place in refrigerator for 8-24 hours (e.g. overnight).

9. Triple rinse almonds. Place in jar, add a pinch of salt, cover with water and seal with a lid. Leave out of the refrigerator for 8-24 hours.

9. (DAY OF) Place pot on burner and begin heating at medium high. Stir frequently.

10. While heating remove seeds from cardamom pods and crush. Add to pot.

11. Add salt and ginger to pot.

12. Grate rind of half an orange and add to pot.

13. Continue stirring until milk comes to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover for one hour (stirring every ten minutes or so).

14. After an hour remove lid and continue cooking until it reaches desired thickness.

15. Pinch almonds between your thumb and forefinger to remove the skins. Slice them thinly.

15. Serve rice pudding in bowls with sliced almond on to.

Tip: You can puree it after cooking if you want a super smooth and creamy version. Top with melted butter if desired.

In Norway at Christmastime they often eat rice pudding for breakfast. They’ll place a almond (with the skin, not chopped) in the pudding before serving. Whoever gets the bowl with the whole almond receives a special gift from their Christmas Nissen (the equivalent of our Santa).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all,

P.S. Click here for more information on Future Health Now!

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