April 15, 2013 In Food and Recipes, News By Crystal Di Domizio

Gluten-Free Coconut Brown Rice Pudding

Breakfast, snack, or dessert? You decide! This delicious gluten-free, dairy-free rice pudding is a healthier alternative to the traditional white rice, milk and sugar.

Sweetened with almond amasake and raw honey it’s packed with flavour and nutrients. Amasake is a fermented brown rice beverage that can be used as a natural sweetener and raw honey contains live enzymes that aid in the digestion of carbohydrates. Cinnamon is added, not only for it’s flavour, but also for it’s ability to slow the rate at which the stomach empties after meals, reducing the rise in blood sugar after eating. Coconut milk provides a valuable source of good quality fat, essential for good health.

Brown basmati rice is a great place to start if you’re new to the texture and flavour of brown rice. Soaking the rice in water for 12 hours or overnight also helps to break down the fiber and improves the absorption and digestibility of the nutrients it contains. It also cuts the cooking time in half. Just reduce the amount of water you use to cook the rice by about 1/4 depending on how firm or soft you like your rice. Alternatively, you could also use red or white quinoa instead of brown rice.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown basmati rice, soaked for 12 hrs
1 400ml can of coconut milk
1/2 cup almond amasake
1 tsp -1 tbsp raw honey
1 tsp cinnamon or to taste
1/4 cup raisins

Directions:

Cook brown rice according to package directions replacing 1/2 to 3/4 of the water with coconut milk, reducing the overall liquid by 1/4 if you soaked your rice.

(My brown basmati rice called for 1 cup of rice to be cooked in 2 cups of water for 50min. I combined 1 cup soaked rice with 1 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup water, simmering over low heat, with the lid on until the liquid was absorbed and rice was tender about 25min)

Once your rice is cooked add 1/2 cup almond amasake, additional coconut milk to reach desired consistency, raw honey* and cinnamon to taste. Mix well and stir in raisins.

*Only add raw honey to your rice pudding when it’s cool enough to eat, so the heat does not kill the live enzymes.

Serve warm, immediately after cooking or cool and refrigerate. I enjoy this rice pudding cold as a snack or dessert. For breakfast I add chopped almonds for the additional protein.

Enjoy!

 


Tags:

Crystal Di Domizio

Crystal Di Domizio received her Registered Holistic Nutritionist designation from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. Her combined passion for nutrition, pregnancy and birth lead to her continued studies as a Birth Doula. She is the founder of Cultivate Your Health and Living Gluten-Free Community. Crystal’s philosophy towards holistic nutrition and birth is based on the understanding that our bodies have the inborn knowledge and ability to maintain their own health. We can honor our body’s natural wisdom by providing it with the raw materials it needs to work with through whole, unrefined foods. Crystal’s knowledge and expertise enables her to identify the nutritional causes of dis-ease and can help guide you on your path to wellness. She is dedicated to teaching you how to combine the nutritional, physical, emotional and spiritual components of your life to promote healing and well being on all levels.