Greek Rice Pudding (rizogalo)

Total Time: 35 mins Preparation Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1/2 cup short grain rice (a starchy rice, like arborio)
• 3 cups whole milk
• peel of 1 lemon, removed in one long strip
• 1/3 cup sugar, plus
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch is the same thing)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Recipe

• 1 place milk, sugar and lemon peel (just the peel - none of the pith) in a heavy saucepan. bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar melts. reduce heat to low and add the rice.
• 2 cover the pan and cook until the rice/milk mixture has gone thick and creamy (about 30-35 minutes).
• 3 turn off heat. remove lemon peel and discard.
• 4 whisk together egg yolks with corn flour.
• 5 quickly whisk egg yolks into the rice mixture, stirring well. (if you want to, at this point you can also add a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract). keep stirring to make sure yolks are incorporated and won't curdle.
• 6 spoon pudding into four serving dishes and cool. top with a sprinkling of cinnamon.