Coconut Rice Pudding with Caramelized Bananas

Rice Pudding is the ultimate comfort food for the family. In its very simple form it makes everyone in our household happy. This coconut version, make that this coconut vegan version hits the top of the list, and over the weekend I gilded the lily by topping the soft smooth comforting pudding with warm caramelized maple bananas. I decided to write this up as an afterthought, but sometimes hindsight is a good idea.

My Coconut Rice Pudding Story

While not quite payesh (traditional Bengali rice pudding). Some my grandmother used to have for me anytime I visited her after college. It is however comforting and soothing. Offering a weeknight vibe. Practical and flavorful.

Culinary Connections with my mother

Lately, my mother has taken to reworking some my recipes these days (apparently for the reputation of Indian cooking). I do not really cook like her. She is very much a purist. But these days when we are together we often cook together.  Today is about finding comfort in this bowl of soft and gently sweetened bowl of coconut rice pudding. Something that I put together working with my mother.

This rice pudding is made from a combination of coconut milk and almond milk. It is light and vegan. The topping is made from grilled bananas. A new way to use up the ripe bananas that I always seem to have hanging around our house. Giving banana bread a break. In fact, all of this together almost makes this dessert suitable for breakfast in my books, well, if you enjoy it I will not tell. Breakfast or not, at all times this simple comforting pudding calls our time.

Now, this is incredibly easy to put together it just needs some time, and although there is the slow cooker, for this version I have found that I get a better texture from slow stove top cooking for a couple of hours.

There were many reasons why I felt just a tiny bit down and under, and no it has nothing to with the fact that summer is on its way out. Call me weird but I am the quintessential fall person, I like everything about the season. This rice pudding waiting for me, cheered me up considerably, spooning it down with the brood, almost felt like someone singing Bridge Over Troubled Water to me. Just almost.