Riso Venere Pudding with Coconut Milk (Pulut Hitam 2)

Riso Venere Pudding with Coconut Milk

We make Bubur/Pulut Hitam with black glutinous rice. I said last week that I would try making it with the riso venere that we find here in Italy (it has Chinese origins though), and so I did.

As the (250g of) black rice is pre-cooked, I made a caramel with 4 tablespoons of sugar and then stirred in the rice. Followed by enough hot water to cover the rice, a pinch of salt and a pandan leaf.

Then I let it simmer till the rice becomes soft (more than an hour) and has given out its starch. Needless to say, one has to stir quite often and adjust the water. Served it with some cold coconut milk.

Verdict : Texture-wise the riso venere is chewier and nuttier than the black glutinous rice that we use back home. Now I am sure that it is not glutinous. When you eat it, the husk stays behind after the grain has been eaten, making you chew more to finish everything. But it's better than no Pulut hitam at all, the Babies and the Hub ate up whatever there was to eat.

This morning the kids walked in Montale with the rest of the school for a good cause : Haiti. Not just to raise funds, but also to raise awareness within and outside of the school community. It was organised by the Student Council and the kids walked around with signs and were individually sponsored by their families and whoever else wanted to sponsor them. I asked the Hub nicely if he wouldn't want to bring the sponsor forms to the office. He freaked out, asking me if I thought that he had nothing better to do than to stand in the office corridor asking for donations. Shouldn't the kids be doing that themselves? Sigh, we don't have relatives here and we only frequent the school community. Who else could we ask? As usual, he was uncooperative and lacked altruism and was not nice.