Torta di riso
This rice & custard tarte is a popular traditional Italian dessert, a tasty alternative to baked rice pudding. It is moist and delicate.
Ingredients
- 850 ml milk
- 200 g pudding rice (or risotto rice, such as arborio)
- 200 g caster sugar
- 50 g ground almonds
- 3 eggs
- 1 unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest
- 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out (or 1 tbsp vanilla paste)
- 50 ml amaretto di saronno (or similar liqueur)
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 °C. Grease a shallow baking dish with butter, dust with flour, set aside (do not use a spring form tin or similar – the mixture will leak all over your oven).
- In a saucepan, bring milk and vanilla to the boil. Add half sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Add rice, reduce heat to low, and keep stirring regularly until the rice has absorbed all the milk and has turned into a delicate rice & milk cream. This may take about an hour. Remove from heat and set aside to let cool completely. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with remaining sugar until pale and fluffy. Add lemon zest, mix well. Remove vanilla pod from rice mixture, then fold egg mixture into rice & milk cream, then fold in ground almonds. Add amaretto liqueur, mix well.
- Bake for about 50 minutes until golden. When cooked, the torta di riso will still be moist but not liquid anymore. Remove from heat and let completely cool for several hours before serving.