Creamy Coconut Vanilla Rice Pudding

Rice pudding. The perfect comfort food.

We love it hot with cherries or caramelized fruit as dessert, cold as an after school snack (great for lunch boxes too!), or as a satisfying just-before-bed snack. It's not too rich, not too sweet, can be 'dressed up' or eaten as is. My version of rice pudding is dairy free, gluten free and vegan, and the Thermomix makes it so simple and quick - great for when you don't really feel like cooking, but you really want something for dessert!

I use Rapadura to sweeten this, which is why it's a darker colour than what you may be used to. The Rapadura gives it a lovely, slightly caramel flavour - much nicer than the bland, super-sweet taste of refined sugar!

If you don't have a vanilla bean, you can just add vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract to the ingredients in step 2. I do love to use a whole vanilla bean though - you get all the little vanilla-y bits and the delicious seeds all through your pudding!

1. In your Thermomix, grind up the Rapadura and vanilla bean for 1 minute on speed 9:
- 60g Rapadura
- 1 whole vanilla bean, snipped in pieces

2. Scrape down lid and sides and add remaining ingredients. Cook for 20 minutes at 90 degrees, reverse, speed 1 1/2.
- 200g arborio rice (or 250g if you like it thicker)
- 400g organic coconut cream (use organic so you don't get all the nasty additives)
- 600g water

3. The rice pudding will still be quite runny - don't worry, it thickens after a few minutes. You can pour it straight into a serving dish (a Thermoserver is ideal) and leave it for 5 minutes before serving, and it will be perfect.

For a delicious dessert, top with caramelized mango or peaches or nectarines. Halve or cube the fruit, sprinkle with Rapadura or palm sugar, and cook in a heavy frying pan (or char grill pan) for 1-2 minutes each side, or until caramelized.

Sue-Ellen's Singapore Noodles

My friend Sue-Ellen has kindly given me permission to post this recipe which she converted herself for the Thermomix. It's really good! I tweaked it a little, steaming and scrambling the eggs with the noodles in the Themomix bowl, instead of separately in a pan - I thought that was pretty cool! Love this machine! :)

Sue-Ellen based her recipe on one for 'Fried Bee Hoon' in the new Asian Thermomix cookbook. (Another really yummy recipe!) If you're new at converting your recipes for the Thermomix, here's a good tip: find a recipe that is similar to yours in one of the Thermomix cookbooks, and use that method, changing the ingredients to suit. You'll also need to make sure that the combined ingredients won't exceed 2 litres. For more tips on converting your recipes, see this post.

I find it so amazing that the Thermomix can grind grains and coffee beans and ice to powder in seconds, yet it can also gently stir pasta and rice and vermicelli noodles without mushing them! I avoided cooking vermicelli in the Thermomix for a long time, thinking the results would not be pretty - but guess what? I was wrong! It really does work! Of course, if you overcook it, it will begin to break up, so keep an eye on it and don't let it overcook. 

I recommend using chicken stock paste in this recipe, as the flavour is so delicious! If you want to make some, the recipe is here with the one for Creamy Chicken & Brown Rice Soup. If you don't have any chicken stock paste and you're in a hurry to make this, vegetable stock paste will do.

Note: If you're on a grain free or low carb diet, you can use mung bean vermicelli ('bean thread') in this recipe instead of the rice vermicelli.

This recipe serves 6, or maybe a little more. 

 

1. Mix chicken and seasonings together in a bowl and set aside:

- 250g chicken, cubed in 2cm pieces

- 1 small tsp salt

- 1 tsp Rapadura

- 1 tblspn oyster sauce

- 1 tblspn soy sauce or shoyu

2. Soak the vermicelli in a bowl of cold water:

- 200g rice vermicelli (or mung bean vermicelli)

- water to cover

3. Place garlic & ginger into Thermomix bowl and chop for 3 seconds, speed 7:

- 3 cloves garlic

- 5g fresh ginger

4. Add oil and curry powder and saute for 3 minutes at Varoma temp on speed 1:

- 15g olive oil

- 1 tblspn curry powder

5. Add marinated chicken and cook for 5 minutes at Varoma temp on reverse, speed soft.

6. Add carrot and onion and cook for 3 minutes at Varoma temp on reverse, speed soft:

- 100g carrot, peeled & julienned (1 medium carrot)

- 1/2 brown onion, thinly sliced

7. Add water, stock paste, vermicelli, cabbage and bean sprouts and cook for 5 minutes at Varoma temperature on reverse, speed soft:

- 420g water

- 1 tblspn chicken stock paste (or vegetable stock paste)

- drained vermicelli noodles

- 150g Chinese cabbage, thinly sliced

- 60g bean sprouts

8. Remove lid and gently drag some of the veges up to the top so the vermicelli goes to the bottom of the bowl. Pour in the beaten eggs. Replace lid and cook another 2 minutes at Varoma temp on reverse, speed soft. The eggs will steam on top and scramble as it stirs.

- 2 eggs, beaten

(Cooking time can vary - only cook until the noodles are soft, don't overcook.) 

9. Empty bowl into Thermoserver and stir egg evenly through noodles with spatula. Enjoy!

{This recipe makes quite a lot - it fills a 2.2 litre Thermoserver!}

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

I know it may seem like all I ever do is bake sweet things (mostly chocolate sweet things) and eat them, but I really don't... I do love to bake, but generally I only make decadent things like this for special occasions, like Mother's Day or birthdays or when friends come to visit. And I only eat a tiny bit - there's always plenty of people willing to help eat it. And I tweak them to make them healthier. So I hope you'll excuse me for posting another one, and I promise to post something healthier next time! :)

This is my take on the classic French flourless chocolate, coffee and almond cake. I love it, because it's grain free, and I love nut flour cakes as they stay moist for days. I made mine with walnuts instead of almonds - you could use almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts, and pecans would probably work well too.  Unlike my Flourless Pecan Cake, however, this one isn't a light cake - it's a dense, fudgey cake, delicious for dessert with some berries and maybe a drizzle of cream (cashew cream, for me!)... And just for fun, you can also make mini Flourless Espresso Cakes like these ones I made for my friend's 'birthday cake', covered in chocolate ganache. She loved them!

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 F). Butter (or grease with coconut oil) a 20cm round cake tin, sift cocoa over the butter so cake won't stick, and set aside.

1. Insert the butterfly into the Thermomix bowl and whip the egg whites and cream of tartar on speed 4 until stiff - about 3 minutes:

- 5 egg whites

- a pinch of cream of tartar

   Set aside and clean out Thermomix bowl, drying well.

2. Grind up nuts on speed 9 until fine - don't overdo it, or they'll be too oily. About 8-10 seconds should be enough. Set aside.

- 100g raw walnuts or almonds or hazelnuts

3. Grind up Rapadura until fine, about 30 seconds on speed 9:

- 150g Rapadura

4. Add the chocolate, broken into pieces, and grind on speed 9 until fine:

- 200g dark, bitter chocolate (I use 70% cocoa Lindt chocolate)

5. Add coffee, essence, and butter/ghee and melt at 50 degrees, 3 minutes, speed 2:

- 2 Tablespoons very strong espresso coffee, liquid not instant (or 3 Tablespoons instant coffee)

- 1 tsp rum or brandy essence (or a tablespoon of the real thing)
- 150g butter or coconut oil

6. Add ground nuts and mix well on speed 5 for 10 seconds.

7. With motor still running on speed 5, add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well between each one:
- 5 egg yolks

8. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the beaten egg whites to the mixture and mix in on speed 3. Scrape mixture into a large bowl, and gently fold in the rest of the egg whites with a rubber spatula.

Before folding in egg whites

After folding in egg whites

9. Turn mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 40 - 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool before removing from cake tin. Don't worry if the crust cracks and collapses a bit, that's normal.

10. Dust with a little icing sugar to serve (made in the Thermomix, of course!)... and I like to top it with some raspberries and mini rapadura-sweetened choc chips too. :)

Mothers Day 'Mess'

I wanted to make a special Mother's Day lunch for my extra special mother, and when I saw a recipe for a 'Muddled Mother's Day Mess' (think 'Eton Mess', kind of like a trifle) on the Thermomix Recipe Community, I knew I just had to make it for dessert! The only problem was that if I made a dessert full of cream and sugar, I wouldn't be able to have any... So I decided to 'tweak' the recipe to make it gluten free, dairy free and naturally sweetened. I hope mum doesn't mind - but just in case she does, I've also made her a Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake! :)

I just want to say a quick word about my mum - she is the most amazing cook, and taught us from a very young age to experiment in the kitchen, and never minded the messes we made or the fact that half the things we 'invented' were quite inedible. It's funny, when I was a kid I'd get quite annoyed with mum wanting to 'tweak' recipes to use what she had in the fridge or cupboard - I just wanted to follow the recipe exactly as it was written! Well, mum, thanks for all that early training in 'tweaking' - it's come in really handy!! And I've made a lovely 'Mess' just for you... (I've always been good at making messes, right mum? lol)

Here's my version:

1. First make a Sponge Cake. 

I used this recipe for a Gluten Free Almond Sponge Cake. It's actually even grain free if you use arrowroot or tapioca starch instead of the cornstarch! I halve the sugar and use Rapadura, and add a little green stevia powder. If you can't have nuts, make a plain gluten free cake like this one. Cool the cake, then slice into cubes.

While the cake is cooking, make the other layers.

2. Passionfruit Cashew Cream:

    (If you can't have nuts, change this to a rice milk vanilla custard)

    Blend in the Thermomix for 1 minute on speed 9:
- 150g raw cashews
- 200g water
- dash of pure maple syrup or raw honey

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

    Stir in:

- the pulp of 4 passionfruit

    Remove to a bowl and refrigerate. (It will thicken as it cools.)

3. Raspberry Coulis

    Weigh into Thermomix bowl:

- 200g raspberries

- 100g Rapadura

- juice of 1/2 a lemon

    Cook at 90 degrees, 6 minutes, speed 4.

    Pour into a strainer over a bowl to remove seeds, then refrigerate.

4. Lemon/Lime Butter

    Grind for 30 seconds on speed 9:

- 60g Rapadura

    Scrape down sides with spatula, insert butterfly, and add:

- 1/4 tsp green stevia powder

- juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes

- 80g coconut oil

- 2 eggs

    Cook for 8 minutes, 80 degrees, speed 3.  The lemon butter should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

5. To Assemble: 

Place a third of the cubes of sponge cake into large glass serving bowl, or several individual glasses. Drizzle with a little coulis. Dollop with some Lime Butter and Passionfruit Cream. Repeat layering a couple more times, until all ingredients are used, ending with cream. (Swirl a little of the coulis through the cream on top with a skewer.) Garnish with raspberries. Serve cold.