Jasmine rice pudding

Rice pudding can be a great way to use up left-over rice (unless, of course, you’re me and typically cook your grains in a savory meat stock).    It’s a little sweet and a lot creamy and, this version at least, full of a variety of textures.  I particularly like to use Jasmine rice because of its fragrant floral notes, but really you can use any grain that you like- be it white, brown, or purple.  If you use something other than jasmine rice, I would suggest adding a splash of pure vanilla extract.
Ingredients:
1 cup jasmine rice
2 cans coconut milk (lite if that’s your preference)
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup raisins and/or currants and/or dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped raw cashews
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
Directions:

• Put the jasmine rice and 2 cups of coconut milk in a small sauce pan with the cinnamon stick and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to low, give the rice one stir to be sure that it’s not suck to the bottom of the pan, cover and allow to simmer for 20 minutes
• Place the cooked rice in a mixing bowl, remove the cinnamon stick, and add the raisins/currants/cranberries, half of the cashews & half of the coconut, and stir
• If the mixture is dry, add additional coconut milk until it looks creamy
• Scatter the remaining cashews & coconut over the top of the pudding and either serve warm immediately, or cover and chill overnight