A Child-Friendly Recipe for Danish Rice Pudding

A Child-Friendly Recipe for Risengrød, contributed by Lina Aerts, former BCT Secretary.

December means Christmas in Denmark.

Christmas lasts throughout December for my family (like in Denmark). Hence we typically start celebrating on the very first day of December. And in my home, this occasion typically involves a warm dinner of Risengrød. This dish of rice pudding is popular with children and easy to make. You can serve it with a topping of cinnamon and butter. I don’t usually include sugar in my garnish, but you are welcome to do so if you prefer your pudding to be sweeter.

Fun fact:

Did you know? In the olden days, the cook would quickly boil the rice in the milk. And then move the pot into the bed, leaving it overnight, underneath the duvet, to continue cooking. The parents would have a warm bed, and the children would wake up to a ready-to-eat Risengrød.

Ingredients (serves four):

Porridge

600ml of water
360g short rice
2l of milk (the fatter, the better)
A pinch of salt

Topping

100g of butter
A mix of sugar and cinnamon (ratio 20:80)

Method: 

First, boil the water with the rice in a deep pan on high heat for about two minutes.

Then, add the milk and let the composition simmer for two minutes.

Next, cover the pot with a lid, and turn down the heat.

After ten minutes or once you see that it is semi-cooked, return to the pan to stir the rice.

Then, leave it on the stove for about half an hour, returning to stir the porridge regularly on low heat.

Remove the pot and season the porridge with salt if the mixture looks ready.

If it seems thin, continue to cook – but not too long as the porridge will dry.

Serve each portion in a big bowl, and top it with sugar, cinnamon, and a knob of butter.

Enjoy!

Editor’s note:

We first featured this recipe in the December 2020-January 2021 issue of Parenting. We edited this piece to meet the blog’s requirements.