Creamy Coconut Rice Pudding with Fresh Sliced Mango

One of my favorite desserts is the creamy coconut rice topped with fresh slices of mango that you find in a lot of Thai restaurants.  It’s light and sweet and topped with fruit so it’s basically the healthiest thing around, right?  Recently I’ve really been craving the stuff, but thought I might put a little twist on it, making it into a breakfast baked rice pudding.  Now I can start the day with dessert–sounds good to me!

Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango

-1 can coconut milk

-2 eggs

-1/3 c. sugar

-pinch salt

-1/2 tsp. vanilla

-1/4 c. shredded coconut

-2 1/2 c. already cooked and cooled rice* (white or brown rice work great!)

-1 mango, sliced

-sesame seeds for garnish

First heat the coconut milk over a medium high heat until it’s just simmering.  Then combine the eggs, sugar, and salt, and slowly drizzle the coconut milk into the egg mixture so that it won’t scramble.  Next add the vanilla, shredded coconut, and rice

Pour this mixture into a casserole dish and place that dish into a larger baking dish.  Pour water into the baking dish, half way up the side of the casserole dish.  This is called a bain-marie and is often used with custards to make sure they cook gently and evenly–aren’t you so fancy!

Place the whole thing (carefully!) into a 325° oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until it is nicely set up but still soft.  Remove it from the oven and serve either warm or cold with sliced mango and sesame seeds to garnish.  Enjoy!

*I mention the amount of cooked rice to use in this recipe, because this is a great thing to make with leftover rice!  However, if you’re starting from scratch, you’ll want to cook about 1 cup of dry rice and then let it cool so that it won’t scramble the eggs.

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Spicy Beef Bowls with Miso Dressing

It’s starting to heat up in Atlanta, which is definitely putting me in the mood for tropical flavors…or maybe I’m just jealous of Caroline’s trip to Jamaica!  Either way, a dish full of fresh mangoes, cooling avocados, and spicy marinated beef is sure to satisfy…and an ice cold rum cocktail on the side doesn’t hurt either!

Spicy Beef Bowls with Miso Dressing

The Beef:

-1 lb thinly sliced sirloin

-3 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce

-3 Tbsp brown sugar

-2 Tbsp rice vinegar

-2 Tbsp canola oil

-1/4 tsp garlic powder

-1/4 tsp ground ginger

-1/4 cayenne pepper

The Miso Dressing:

-2 Tbsp brown miso

-3 Tbsp canola oil

-1 Tbsp rice vinegar

-juice of 1/2 a lemon

-3 cloves of garlic

-1 inch of ginger

-1 Tbsp honey

-2 tsp tamari/soy sauce

The Add Ons:

-green onions

-mango

-cucumbers

-avocado

-cashews

-rice

Add all of the ingredients for the beef into a large Ziploc bag and wiggle it around until it’s well mixed.  Then let it marinate for several hours or preferably overnight.  Remove it from the fridge to allow it to come to room temperature while you get everything else ready before cooking it in a piping hot cast iron skillet.  The key to caramelizing your beef is to not over crowd your pan–you may need to cook it in stages.  You don’t want your meat to steam!

For the miso dressing, just combine everything in a blender.  Done.

   

 

Chop everything else and layer it all in a bowl.  This dressing can certainly be used for salad dressing, but why waste this dressing on lettuce when you can layer it on white rice and red meat instead?

-Julia