coconut rice pudding with roasted cherries + a giveaway!

Whenever I am not feeling so good, my mom makes me rice pudding. Yep, that's right, not chicken soup, rice pudding. It's one of my favorite desserts, but not something I think much about much beyond a dessert that my mom makes for me, often. 

So, since my mom has been recovering, I have been making her rice pudding. A big batch every week. The first time I made the pudding, it occurred to me …. I have not actually made rice pudding for myself. Ever. I would always get my fix on from my mom, so I would never ever make it. Well, now it's my turn to be the one to make the rice pudding. 

My mom always made the classic rice pudding that consisted of milk, cinnamon and raisins. It was so darn good, and perfect. She recently had tweaked it for me and started using almond milk instead of regular milk, a change I very much welcomed.  

Since I have been making batches upon batches of rice pudding recently, I have been making it every which-way possible. With almond milk, with rice milk, testing different rices and different fruit combinations.

As I'm sure you've guessed, this combination right here hit it out of the park. Jasmine rice, coconut and cherries, play very nicely together.

If you live the same part of the world that I do, you may have noticed that cherries are in their peak season right now, so when Whole Foods asked me to come up with a cherry recipe for cherry season … I knew that their cherries were the perfect candidate for my fancy coconut jasmine rice pudding. 

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY FUN!
Whole Foods has generously given me a $50 gift card to pass along to a reader. All you have to do is leave a comment below with your favorite recipe that incorporates cherries. A winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday, July 21st. Good luck, friends!

coconut rice pudding with roasted cherries

MAKES
several servings

INGREDIENTS

3 cups of fresh cherries, pitted and halved
a drizzle of maple syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla 
a pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of jasmine rice
2 cans of full-fat coconut milk
1 cup of water
1/3 cup of maple syrup
1 vanilla bean, scraped + 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (or 2 tablespoons of extract)
1/4 teaspoon of salt

shredded coconut, or coconut strips (lightly toasted @ 350º for 5-7 minutes)

METHOD

Bake the cherries:

• Pre-heat the oven to 400º. 
• Place the cherries, a drizzle of maple syrup, 1 tsp of vanilla, and a pinch of salt into a 9" round or an 8"x10" baking dish. 
• Baked for 20-25 minutes, until the cherries are soft and bubbly. 

Then make the rice pudding:

• Place the rice, canned coconut milk, water, maple syrup, vanilla and salt in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for about 30-40 minutes. The consistency and the cooked-ness of the rice is more important than the time it take. Once most of the liquid has been absorbed (you want a slightly creaminess, but not too much liquid), and when the rice has been cooked, you are done. If too much of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is not cooked through, then add a little more water until it is cooked. 

Then, add the rice pudding to the cherries, set, and serve:

• Pour the rice pudding over the roasted cherries. Finish with the toasted, shredded coconut, and place it in the fridge until it sets, about 30 minutes. 
• You can also serve this warm right away. 
• You can also serve this cold, or you can store it in the fridge in an air-tight container for a couple of days and warm it up again, if you prefer to enjoy this warm.