Coconut Rice Fields

The rice pudding tradition is one of world gastronomy’s oldest desserts — Spanish arroz con leche, Italian budino di riso, Greek rizogalo, Indian kheer, Sephardi sutlage, Thai khao niao. Coconut Rice Fields is the Asturian arroz con leche crossed with Southeast Asian aromatic rice — short-grain rice cooked in whole milk and coconut milk, with sugar, lime zest, kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass, sea salt, star anise and cinnamon. The coconut milk softens the rice and coats the grains in a creamy lipid that carries the volatile aromatics; kaffir lime delivers the citrus-floral with a slight pine-resin top note (citronellal-rich); lemongrass adds the lemony-grass citral aromatic; star anise and cinnamon ground the dish in Mediterranean spice. A creamy spoonable porridge in which Iberian rice-pudding canon and Thai aromatic register coexist without either dominating.