Lemony rice pudding with poached tamarillos

This is the rice pudding to convert all rice pudding haters. It is rich and lemony and the strips of peel melt down and you get a lemon hit when you bite one. This recipe is an adapted Jane Grigson recipe and you can serve it with anything you like. I have done it with slow roasted quince and poached rhubarb before. Its nice with fruit with a bit of tartness to cut through the rich rice. My mum requested this for Mother's day dessert and she loved it.


Lemony rice pudding
50g short grain rice
300mls milk
300mls cream
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 lemon

Peel the lemon thinly, taking off strips with a vegetable peeler. Put rice, lemon peel, sugar, butter, milk and cream into an ovenproof dish. Cover with tin foil and cook in a very slow oven, 125°C, for 2-3 hours until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and it looks deliciously creamy. Stir it every 3/4 hour.

When the pudding is done, give it a good stir and add the juice from the lemon and some more cream or milk if it is too solid. I cooked the pudding for 2 1/2 hours and then let it rest in a warm place for about half and hour, it only need a little of milk to loosen it up.

Poached tamarillos
8 tamarillos
2 cup water
1 cup sugar
Zest of  one oranges and lemon
1 cinnamon quill
1 star anise 

Meanwhile you can get on to your tamarillos. You can do these ahead and then gently reheat them when your pudding is ready.
Put a small pot of water on to boil. Score the bottoms of the tamarillos with a cross and when the water has boiled blanch them in boiling water for about 10-15 seconds. You can leave them in a little longer if they aren't the ripest. After about 10 seconds, scoop them out and plunge them into iced water. When cool, starting at the scored end carefully peel them and set aside.

Place the water, sugar, zest, cinnamon and star anise in a saucepan and simmer to dissolve the sugar. Add in the peeled tamarillos and bring to a simmer and gently cook them for 10-15 minutes.


To serve...
100g almonds - roasted and roughly chopped
Extra cream or yoghurt if you like

When your rice pudding is nearly ready, bring your tamarillos back up to temperature.
Spoon the rice puddings into bowls and top with the tamarillos and with a little extra syrup, sprinkle over the chopped almonds and serve.