milk and rice around the world

has this happened to you?

a friend from a different country invites you over for food. on the menu is something typical from her/his country. something special. curiosity is peaked; expectations are high. alas, the dish served reminds you of a dish at home. but no, no your host insists, its very special, only in her/his country.

i've also experienced it the other way around. proud to present a recipe from germany i only got a lame reaction from my guest recognized the taste already. someone who had never eaten german food before! my guest just didn't understand. it's special; it's childhood memory; it's made from a product not to be had in the us of a.

turns out, the list of original raw ingredients on our planet is somewhat limited. we often make the same, just different version: a bit of cardamom here, a bit of apple sauce there, raisins added to the third, more liquid to the fourth version.

i'm thinking of Milchreis or rice pudding as its known in English.

















special organic Bio-Milchreis self-imported from germany with ripped open bottom.

in germany you have to buy a special kind of rice in the supermarket. it's labed Milchreis -- literally meaning milk rice -- and comes in half-kilo bags (organic and non-organic). i took pains to import it to the us of a in my overflowing suitcase and mailed packages. (the latter didn't go so well as the Milchreis-bag opened and spread its white contents all over the box -- of course i collected each precious grain to store it in a jar for future delight.)

yet, my indian friends introduced me to kheer. that's when the cardamom flavor comes in. also made by boiling rice with milk, it tastes much sweeter than its german cousin. in india it is served as a cold desert and is often decorated with almonds or pistachios whereas in germany Milchreis can be a complete meal. it's especially popular with german children. (this german child lived on it.)

then i had peruvian friends over. they handed me a tall glass filled with a cold thickish milky substance. "arroz con leche", they said, "we drink it in my country". i instantly recognized Milchreis in its liquid disguise. "we're having the same stuff in Germany," i blurted out in joy. after all, i hadn't had Milchreis for a long time. turns out, though, the peruvian version is made with eggs.

just a bit ago, i was invited to u.s. friends. to my pleasure a bowl of warm rice pudding was put on the table for desert. i smelled raisins, cinnamon, and milk. we spooned thick globs of sticky rice out of the master bowl. Milchreis was calling again. the u.s. recipe is different but easier than in germany. normal white rice is combined with milk, raisins, and cinnamon. the oven takes care of the rest for the next hour.














sticky Milchreis in a pot waiting to be doused in brown melted butter from the pan

if you're still with me. i'll finally reveal you the secret of the -- of course -- very unique german way of enjoyig Milchreis. after the special Milchreis grains have simmered in a bubbly milk bath for about half an hour, the fun part starts. you can serve it either with apple sauce or top it with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar after adding liquid browned butter or decorate it with canned cherries.














apple sauce as well as cinnamon and sugar are two typical condiments for your german style Milchreis

while pottering around in the kitchen to prepare Milchreis my thai housemate showed up. "khao niao dam" and "khao niao piak" is how her country(wo)men call rice with milk. the first kind is cooked with dark rice, the latter with white rice. in any case you need sticky rice, she says, which is boiled in water with sugar. in a separate pot coconut milk and other milk is heated. in a bowl the heated coconut milk is poured over the prepared rice.

but who knows. these are just five out of around 200 countries. i would glady try what rice and milk are turned into in trinidad, albania, afghanistan, or uruquay.

with careful trust, here's a wikipedia article with a more detailed and incluseive list of rice puddings around the world.