Sweet Snacking: Chai Rice Pudding

We do a lot of savory dishes around these parts, mostly because we blog about what we eat, and we eat dinner every day. What we don't do every day is bake stuff or make sweet things, because with the amount of pasta we eat, we have to try to stay healthy in other ways :) That said, the other day YiRan was craving some rice pudding. We looked up rice pudding recipes and found one on All Recipes, but wanted to be able to post something for you all to enjoy, so decided we should try to make it special.

So YiRan had the great idea to turn the regular rice pudding recipe into a chai rice pudding, and thus this recipe for chair rice pudding was born. It didn't take too long to make up, and was a really great weekend treat. So next time you're in the mood for something sweet and want to pull together something quick and easy, give this chai rice pudding a try!

Making the Pudding

What You'll Need
3/4 cup uncooked white rice
2 chai tea teabags
2 cups milk, divided
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
4 star anise cloves

Start up by cooking the rice. Bring 1 and a half cups of water to a boil, add in the rice, stir, and then add in the tea bags. This will start the chai steeping and infuse the flavor into the rice.

Reduce the heat, and then cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the rice absorbs all of the water.

In another saucepan, combine the rice with 1 and a half cups of the milk, sugar, and salt. Cook this over medium heat until thick and creamy, about 15 - 20 minutes, stirring throughout.

Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla and the other spices. Serve and enjoy!













The Result
Creamy, sweet, slightly savory, and overall delicious, this is a great and easy snack if you're in the mood for a nice treat.

The star anise gives it a slightly licorice-y flavor that's a nice compliment to the vanilla. The texture is creamy, smooth, and refreshing. Chai rice pudding is something we'll be coming back to pretty frequently!

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