Just Desserts: Coconut Rice Pudding

I stumbled across a bunch of coconut recipes one afternoon. My favorite (so far) is the Coconut Rice Pudding. It's come to be expected that when I cook something, I nearly always do something wrong, in some way. The first time I made this, I followed the directions perfectly, but I used sweetened coconut milk (the viscous kind, typically marketed for pina coladas, I found it on the cake isle) while the original recipe called for unsweetened milk. While checking out the "ethnic" food isle the other day I finally found a can of unsweetened coconut milk, got really excited, thinking Yes! Now it will be really awesome!! I was wrong. Come to find out, the "mistake" I made the first time was actually an improvement! So, here is what I consider the best recipe of coconut rice pudding ever!

Ingredients you need:

1 qt    whole milk                                              

1 can  sweetened coconut milk (14 oz)

1 c     Arborio rice                                             

½ c    shredded coconut

½ c    sugar                                                        

In a large saucepan, combine milk, rice and sugar with 2 c water; bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until rice is tender and suspended in a thick, creamy sauce (~30 min). Stir in coconut milk and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice is very tender and the liquid is thickened (~ 10 min). Let cool slightly.

Toast shredded coconut over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and golden (~4 min). Transfer to a plate to cool.

Spoon the rice pudding into bowls, garnish with the toasted coconut and serve.

 For reference, here are the coconut products I used most recently:

I advise AGAINST using this coconut milk!! Use a regular, sweetened coconut milk

This coconut milk did not convey near as much coconut flavor as the coconut milk I used the first time (also, it required the addition of much more sugar to get the sweetness right):

Use this! 

Happy Cooking!