Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Indian Rice Pudding Goes Egyptian




I live in a tourist town. Every day busloads of tourists arrive in our town Plaza (the largest in California) and swarm over the restaurants, tasting rooms and shops. Last year a new shop opened with the intriguing name of Bram.  While we waited for the doors to open everyone was wondering, "what's a bram???" I googled the term and came up with an Egyptian clay pot. Clay pot?! Clay pot! A clay pot store was coming to Sonoma! It seemed incredibly ironic that Sonoma is also the home of Paula Wolfert, whos' new book is about Clay Pot Cooking. How weird was that?? I'd been researching  Indian Dum style cooking which traditionally is done in clay. Hell, everybodys' cuisine started off with clay and thanks to the slow food movement it was time to come home to clay again. For 3 months I was like a kid with my nose pressed to the brown paper covered windows. I couldn't wait for the doors to open.
  When they finally did open (conveniently right before my birthday) it was exciting. Anyone who loves to cook gets totally turned on by a vast expanse of cookware. Make that beautiful cookware. I was in heaven.



Almost every clay pot I'd ever read about from any part of the planet was on the shelves. I went nuts!!
 Ash,  is one of the owners and he can tell you all about clay pot cooking.

When I was in the store the other day he gave me a suggestion to try with my Indian Rice Pudding recipe.
Ash suggested that I try something that is done in Egypt, and that is to add milk again toward the end of the cooking process, leave the pot in for a additional 5 minutes then remove it when the pudding is still rather liquid. He said to put the pudding in ramekins. It would still be firm but the center wiggly. He told me to cover them and refrigerate them. I did, and the chilled pudding done this way had a smoother more custardy texture. I think it depends on how custardy one wants the pudding to be as to how much milk one adds. I used 1 cup less than the recipe calls for and then added that cup at the end. When I try it this way again, I may add even more. If you decide to make this pudding, check out this different way. I usually serve my rice pudding warm from the oven or at room temperature. This way it's served chilled. Either way it tastes great!


So there you have Ash's Egyptian twist on my Indian rice pudding. If you're in Sonoma, drop by and explore Bram Cookware, they have a great website where one can order online too. He also carries Paula Wolferts' book because after all, if you're going to cook in clay you can't have a better teacher.

20 comments :

  1. That looks fantastic, I'll have to check out the Bram store when I'm visiting Sonoma. I heard so many great things about Clay Pot that bring out the flavor of a dish. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. @janis,
    it's a fabulous store. they ship too!

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    1. Hi Kathy,
      Love this website of yours. Have visited it about a dozen times in two days!!! :-)
      Could share with me what Indian dishes are best made in a tangine?

      Thank you!
      Parvi

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  3. How cool! To channel Veruka Salt - I want a clay pot, and I want it NOW!

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  4. What an interesting technique. I'm not sure I understand the chemistry of it, but I love puddings with a creamy texture, so it has piqued my curiousity. You are so lucky to have such an amazing store nearby. But then, you are so lucky to live in Sonoma with Paula Wolfert as your friend and neighbor. We made a Paula Wolfert recipe over the weekend (from Slow Mediterannean) and it called for a clay pot. Since we don't have one, we used pyrex and the results were fairly mediocre. David blamed the pot. Hmmm...

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  5. Have you made any moroccon dishes in tagines yet? ... I been wanting to try that.

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  6. How interesting! I'm going to look more into claypot cooking. I heart rice pudding...I wonder how different the flavor and texture would be from traditional rice pudding. Beautiful looking store.

    How fun & exciting that must be to live in Sonoma...I love that area.

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  7. My mom still cooks fish curry in a mud pot and boy Kathy is it delicious!She keeps that pot exclusively for fish curry. I've never tried Kheer in a clay pot. Yummy.

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  8. Very nice pots...I think this is the site you sent me that I ordered from not sure...havent had the chance to make this yet cant wait, never had rice pudding, do you believe it!!!! loves and sounds soooooooo good! nice job again....

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  9. oh my goodness, that store is fabulous! now i have to see if there are any stores near me where these pots are available. that's wonderful Ash had cooking tips, too!

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  10. Love rice pudding! and clay pot cooking is the best, I will check out their website. I have a tagine but want to buy more, so that sound like a great store. Thanks for the info

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  11. Oooooh, pretty! Thanks for sharing. Will have to check them out on line and start a wish list.

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  12. What a unique method for making the rice pudding, I can't wait to try it, sounds absolutely wonderful!

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  13. I would love to visit a clay pot shop like that! I think I would spend hours in there just browsing. Your kheer looks fantastic!

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  14. it's a great place..i love that shop..and now they sell online..anything like this in the UK?

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  15. What a great idea and I love the Egyptian twist. I'm going to share this with my friend who's son is obsessed with Egypt and plans an Egyptian themed party - this might be just the thing.

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  16. This looks great. I'm in the East Bay, so I'll definitely check out this store, and I'll have an excuse to go to Sonoma besides wine sipping (do I count as a tourist?). Nice post.

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  17. I need a different size and I want another color clay pot. I only have one long beige one that I got either from William Sonoma, Sur La Table or Bed, Bath and Beyond. This means taking a field trip to Sonoma hum.

    Thanks for sharing that resource in this post. We cookware enthusiasts greatly appreciate it.

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  18. @strokeofliving
    it's a great place and they're having a ginormous seconds sale this weekend!

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