Risotto/pudding rice

I have both risotto and pudding rice in my cupboard. I'm a bit of a purist .
We eat a lot of seafood risotto, it's an easy meal when we have DGD here. If vegetarian SIL is here, I make him a mushroom risotto, as an alternative.
It's one of my favourite meals.

On the other hand, I can't stomach rice pudding, but make it for DH. The last once was an absolute disaster! I put in in the oven, went to do something and promptly forgot about it! The smell of burnt rice pudding lingered for days and put me off it even more!

My first attempts at risotto were awful and binned until I finally got the hang of it.

I have always used the same Italian brand but now that you mention different varieties absent, maybe it’s time to try others for a comparison.

I spent three weeks with a family in Italy learning to make a proper risotto. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "absent, is a not a risotto", as I watched my carefully stirred concoction go into the rubbish bin. Risotto rice – and there are several varieties – absorbs a lot more liquid than any other types of rice which is what gives risotto its wonderfully creamy texture. My advice, as a cookery writer for more than thirty years, is to buy a variety of risotto rice for risotto and keep pudding rice for puddings because pudding rice "is not a risotto absent" [must be read with a despairing Italian accent].

I have never made rice pudding . Our local supermarket has a lovely line in rice pudding and its not the poshest.

It is very inexpensive and I have taken to eating rice pudding as a comfort snack. I must be in my second childhood.

I have lots of arborio and rarely use it. I would love to make a rice pudding. Could someone give me quantities to use please.

My late mum used to make a delicious rice pudding using sterilised milk (very creamy) and adding nutmeg and butter on top. Then I discovered Ambrosia in a tin once married and never looked back!

Nowadays if I fancy a pot of rice I go for Rachel’s organic. 1 minute in the microwave.

I realised reading this thread that here am I in my mid sixties and I’ve never made my own rice pudding!
?

I often make a sort of risotto with cheap long grain rice, similar to yours, Witzend. I fry some chopped shallots in olive oil first, then add the rice and veg. stock. Then peas and a tin of sweet corn.
The purists will say that's not a risotto, but we like it. Goes well with fish

I stick to the relevant rice eg; arborio for risottos, pudding rice, long grain for kedgeree and basmati for curries.

Hunted high and low in the supermarket for pudding rice too. Daft idea not having it alongside other types of rice. My logic was, I want to make my own rice pudding so, no point looking at ready made tinned varieties......wrong?

Well, I just did what I should have done, dhurr! before posting since I have both, and compared them.

I have Arborio risotto, and while it’s not as round as my pudding rice it’s nothing like ordinary long grain or Basmati. I sometimes cook it in chicken stock and for rather longer than normal for (fussy eater) Gdcs, just with frozen peas added last minute. One of the few things guaranteed to go down well.

As for being easy - or not - to find, a Swedish friend’s son who was working here complained that it was impossible in the U.K. to get the right rice for their traditional sweet rice ‘porridge’, which they have at Christmas.

Not surprising that he couldn’t find it, since pudding rice is hardly ever shelved with other rice, more often with Ambrosia, etc. I had to tell him to ask for pudding rice.

Welshwife. Sounds delicious. What quantities do you use and for how long?

Traditionally, the round rice was used for risottos. I remember Italian families using 'pudding rice' when they couldn't get 'risotto'. It is essentially the same, although Italians can get very fussy about what kind of 'round rice' (carnoli or arborio) and the Spanish will insist that paella rice (very similar) is different again.
Basically it absorbs more of the milk / stock. I had real trouble cooking with basmati rice until I was shown that it should really be steamed rather than simmered.

Pudding rice won’t make a great risotto. All the stirring turns it to mush. However arborio can make a nice, if expensive, rice pudding. That is my experience.

I agree with Daddima. I’ve used pudding rice for risotto and vice versa and to me, they are interchangeable.

In my experience, risotto rice is not long grained and does not stay firm like, for example, basmati.

I use mainly arborio for puddings - I now do ours in the slow cooker - I add a tin of coconut milk during the cooking - delicious.

I’ve used risotto rice, arborio rice, carnaroli rice, & paella rice, and found them just the same as pudding rice ( which also has short, round grains).

Risotto rice is also called Arborio rice. Not sure how it differs from pudding rice but it’s more expensive. It’s quite short grained. One thing about both pudding and risotto rice is that they’re both quite starchy/sticky and grains stick together when cooked.

The Co op sells pudding rice, so does Morrisons.

I doubt they are the same kind of rice. Pudding rice usually has round grains and softens fairly quickly, while rice used for risottos or curries is long grained and stays firmer.

As far as taste goes you can cook puddings using long grained rice as you discovered.