Rice Cream with Red Berry Sauce (Riskrem)

Name: Rice Cream with Red Berry Sauce (Riskrem)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 4 h 30 min
Total time: 5 h
Cuisine: Norway
Ingredients: 150 g (¾ cup) short-grain pudding rice or arborio; 300 ml (1¼ cups) water; 1 l (4¼ cups) whole milk; 3 g (½ tsp) fine sea salt; 300 ml (1¼ cups) heavy (whipping) cream, cold; 40 g (3 tbsp) sugar; 10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla extract, or seeds of 1 vanilla pod; 1 whole blanched almond, optional, for the hidden prize; 300 g (2½ cups) raspberries or mixed red berries, fresh or frozen; 60 g (5 tbsp) sugar; 100 ml (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) water; 10 g (1 tbsp) potato starch or cornstarch, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water

The Norwegian Christmas dessert: cold rice porridge folded with whipped cream

Makes: about 1.5 liters
Hands-on: 30 min
Total: 5 h
Level: Easy

Riskrem is creamy rice porridge cooked slowly in milk, cooled and folded with whipped cream and vanilla, then served with a bright red berry sauce. It is traditionally made from leftover Christmas Eve porridge, often with one whole almond hidden inside for a prize. It is light, cool and simple.

Ingredients

Porridge

150 gshort-grain pudding rice or arborio (¾ cup)
300 mlwater (1¼ cups)
1 lwhole milk (4¼ cups)
3 gfine sea salt (½ tsp)

Cream

300 mlheavy (whipping) cream, cold (1¼ cups)
40 gsugar (3 tbsp)
10 mlvanilla extract (2 tsp)or seeds of 1 vanilla pod
1whole blanched almondoptional, for the hidden prize

Red sauce

300 graspberries or mixed red berries, fresh or frozen (2½ cups)
60 gsugar (5 tbsp)
100 mlwater (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp)
10 gpotato starch or cornstarch (1 tbsp)mixed with 2 tbsp cold water

Diet: Vegetarian, Gluten-free
Allergens: milk, tree nuts
Origin: Norway
Season: Winter

Method

Bring the rice and 300 ml water to a boil in a heavy saucepan and simmer 5 minutes, until the water is mostly absorbed. 5 min
Add the milk and bring to a gentle boil, stirring. Turn the heat to low, cover with a lid slightly ajar, and cook 40–50 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes and scraping the bottom, until the rice is completely tender and the porridge is thick and creamy. Stir in the salt. 45 min
Spread in a wide bowl, press baking paper onto the surface and cool, then chill until completely cold, at least 3 hours or overnight. 3 h
For the sauce, simmer the berries, sugar and water 3–4 minutes. Stir in the starch mixture and bring just back to a boil, stirring, until glossy and thickened. Remove from the heat at once; starch thins if boiled long. Cool and chill. 6 min
Loosen the cold porridge with a spoon. Whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla to soft peaks and fold it into the porridge in two additions until light and creamy. Fold in the almond, if using. 4 min
Serve in bowls or glasses with plenty of red sauce on top. Whoever finds the almond traditionally wins a small prize, often a marzipan pig.

Why it works

Short-grain rice releases plenty of starch as it cooks slowly in milk, which thickens the porridge into a creamy pudding. Once cold, that starch sets firm, so whipped cream folded in at the end lightens it into something airy rather than stodgy. Potato starch thickens the berry sauce clear and glossy at a lower temperature than flour.

Common mistakes

Cooking the porridge on high heat. Milk scorches easily; low heat and regular stirring.
Folding cream into warm porridge; the cream melts and the riskrem is runny.
Boiling the sauce after adding starch, which makes it thin and stringy.

Variations

Warm rice pudding: Serve the porridge hot (risgrøt) with a pat of butter, sugar and ground cinnamon instead of folding in cream.
Oven rice pudding: Bake 100 g rice, 1 L milk, 50 g sugar and a knob of butter at 150°C (300°F) for 2½ hours for a British-style pudding with a golden skin.

Make ahead and storage

The porridge keeps 3 days in the fridge; fold in the cream up to 4 hours before serving. The sauce keeps 5 days.

Notes

Tree nuts only from the hidden almond.