“How To Make Nicaraguan Arroz de Leche” by Lauren W

My mom’s side of the family is from Nicaragua. Our family get-togethers always come with all kinds of tasty Nicaraguan dishes, which include a variety of appetizers, entrees, and desserts. A personal favorite of mine is a very delicious dessert called arroz de leche, which is rice pudding. If you’ve ever had rice pudding from the grocery store, it tastes pretty good, but it is nothing in comparison to this dish. I really enjoy making arroz de leche with my mother, aunt, and grandmother, because it’s a great way to bond with them, especially during all the stress of the holiday season. It is particularly special to me because I have an aunt who lives out of state and rarely can afford the plane ticket to come visit, but when I do get to spend time with her, we always make this dish.
In order to make twenty-four cups with eight ounces of pudding in each cup, you will need all of the following ingredients:
➢ Two cups of white rice
➢ Four sticks of cinnamon
➢ Three cans of evaporated milk (twelve ounces each)
➢ One and a half cans of condensed milk (fourteen ounces each) ➢ Three lime peels
➢ Four tablespoons of vanilla extract
➢ Two tablespoons of cornstarch
➢ One fourth of a cup of water

• ➢  Twelve mini boxes of raisins
  
• ➢  One container of ground cinnamon
  Follow these simple steps to make your own arroz de leche:
  

1. Boil all of the two cups rice in water. Do this until must of the water is absorbed by the
   rice. Continue this process for approximately half an hour. Keep adding more water to the pot every time you see that the majority of the existing water in the pot has been absorbed by the rice.
   
2. After you have done this, leave the rice to soak overnight. If you are making this recipe earlier in the day, leave the rice to soak for about eight to ten hours. This step is important because it allows the rice to soak up all the moisture. Do not be impatient with this step; you don’t want crunchy rice pudding!
   
3. Once you have left the rice to soak, add the four cinnamon sticks, three cans of evaporated milk, one and a half cans of condensed milk, four tablespoons of vanilla extract, and three lime peels to the pot of rice. Stir all of these ingredients constantly. You will know you can stop stirring when the ingredients are blended together very well and you do not see separations of the various liquids within the mixture.
   
4. When you are done stirring, take the four cinnamon sticks out. Sometimes it is difficult to find the cinnamon sticks within all the ingredients. You can use a large serving spoon or a similar utensil to search for them; run the spoon through the ingredients up and towards the edges of the pot to help the cinnamon sticks surface. If you really cannot find all four cinnamon sticks, don’t stress about it, because they will definitely come out later when
   

you are pouring the pudding into the individual cups since they are so much larger in size
than the rest of the ingredients.

5. Make a mixture of two tablespoons of cornstarch with one fourth of a cup of cold water.
   Proceed to add this cornstarch and water mixture to the pot of ingredients.
   
6. Remove the pot from the stove. Be careful not to spill!
   
7. Boil the twelve mini boxes of raisins in water. Do so until they are plump. You may not
   need all of the raisins; it depends how many raisins you would like to put on each cup of arroz de leche. Should you have extra raisins, there are many other Nicaraguan dishes which also use raisins, and they also make a great snack all by themselves.
   
8. Poor eight ounces of the rice mixture into each container.
   
9. Add as much ground cinnamon as you prefer along with a few raisins to the top of each
   container of arroz de leche. I tend to add just enough cinnamon that there is still the white colored rice pudding showing underneath the cinnamon. I usually put about five or six raisins on top, however, if you really enjoy raisins, you can certainly add more, or if you dislike raisins, you can opt to use fewer raisins or even none at all. Adding the cinnamon and raisins is one of the fun parts about making this dessert, because they serve not only as another source of the delicious taste, but also as a decorative touch to the whole dish.
   
10. Refrigerate all of the containers for at least one hour before eating.
    

Now you’re ready to eat! I hope you enjoy cooking, eating, and sharing this recipe of arroz de leche. It is a great dessert to try out around this time of year and share with all your family and friends should you attend any holiday gatherings. I even made arroz de leche with my mom for

one of my classes having a holiday potluck all the way back in elementary school. It really isn’t too difficult to make. While there is a long wait time when you allow the rice to soak in the water, the time that you must spend to actually prepare the dish is not very long at all. Thank you for taking interest in my recipe for arroz de leche; I hope you will find it easy to follow and that you will love this dish just as much as I do. Happy holidays!