Rice Cream

ingredients

1/3 cup of long-grain rice (washed well, then soaked in cold water to cover fore 2 hours)
1 cup of whole milk
1/4 tsp of salt
5 cups of half and half
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 tbsp of golden raisins (soaked in hot water for 10 minutes until they swell, well drained)
2 tbsp of blanched and slivered almonds, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp hulled pistachios, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp rose water, or a few drops of rose essence or vanilla extract

1
Drain the rice and leave it in the saucepan. Pour in the milk and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer for 5 minutes, uncovering to stir from time to time.
2
Uncover, add the salt and pour in the half and half. Increase the heat to medium and bring slowly to just under a boil, stirring occasionally. Continue to cook, uncovered, stirring from time to time until the mixture thickens. (This will take about an hour or more, so be prepared to be doing something else in the kitchen at the same time.)
3
Stir in the sugar and continue to cook, stirring fairly steadily until the mixture becomes the consistency of thick custard and will drop slowly from a spoon. (At this stage the rice will have almost completely disintegrated.)
4
Now stir in the raisins, almonds, pistachios and cardamom. Blend everything well and take the pan off the heat. Stir in the rose water and spoon the pudding into a serving dish. (This is when you would delicately press a few gossamer leaves of silver on top if you were in India). Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Source: Peter Perez