YIAYIA’S FOTO’S CREAMY RICE PUDDING

Yiayia Foto’s Creamy Rice Pudding has stayed a favorite in our family for at least four generations. Try for yourself, and you’ll see exactly why!

From Lizz: My husband’s grandmother/yiayia, Fotini or Foto, as her family and friends called her, was one of the kindest, most loving women I had the pleasure to know. Nothing made her happier than seeing her family happy and one of the ways she showed her love to everyone was to cook for them. Even if you showed up unannounced, which we often did when we were first married, she would make sure that you did not leave on an empty stomach.

Fortunately, my sister-in-law Felicia, made it a point to learn how to make and document many of her Yiayia Foto’s recipes, one of them being, this delicious rice pudding. What is nice about this pudding is that it is not too sweet. It has just the right amount of sugar and together with the vanilla creates the perfect blend for a lightly sweet and creamy dessert.

It’s fun for me to be able to recreate this recipe for my family, but especially for my husband, who grew up enjoying this dessert his Yiayia Foto would make for him. I also appreciate that now my daughter Stephanie Fotini (named after her great grandmother) has this recipe and will share it with her own children some day.

Kali Orexi!

HOW TO MAKE YIAYIA FOTO’S CREAMY RICE PUDDING

1. Prepare ingredients
   
2. In a saucepan heat whole milk until it begins to form small bubbles around the edges of the saucepan. Be sure to constantly stir the milk so that it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the saucepan.
   
3. Add the Arborio rice and lemon peel to the hot milk. Reduce heat to low and add the Arborio rice and lemon peel to the hot milk and cover. You will need to make sure to stir the milk and rice mixture every 2-3 minutes so that the rice and milk do not stick to the bottom of the pan. This step will take between 40 and 45 minutes. Believe me, it’s worth it!
   
4. While milk and rice mixture is cooling, beat egg yolks in a small mixing bowl with a hand mixer. Add sugar and vanilla to egg yolks and use the hand mixer to incorporate all ingredients together well.
   
5. Once most of the milk has been absorbed by the rice, remove the milk and rice mixture from the heat and set aside for 20 minutes to cool.
   
6. Add egg mixture to milk and rice mixture while continually stirring and blending all ingredients well to form pudding.
   
7. Pour rice pudding into custard cups and sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold.

I LIKE MY RICE PUDDING TO HAVE MORE SWEETNESS TO IT. HOW CAN I DO THAT?

If you would like to change up the flavor of the rice pudding you can add some extra vanilla, add a little honey, or switch up the cinnamon with some brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit more.

OH NO, I COOKED THE MILK AND RICE MIXTURE TOO LONG! DO I NEED TO START OVER?

Been there! Add a little warm water to the milk and rice mixture and stir well, before adding the egg and sugar mixture.

Yiayia Foto’s Creamy Rice Pudding Recipe

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