camp meals

Rice Pudding with Chocolate Sauce

Instant rice and powdered milk cooked down thick, with a chocolate sauce stirred in the same pot.

calories
620
weight
4.5 oz
cal / oz
138
protein
14 g
serves
1, scales
prep
3 min
cook
10 min
total time
13 min
water
400 ml boiled
cost
$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Dessert
  • Breakfast
  • Canister stove
  • Liquid fuel
  • Alcohol / Esbit
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Backpacking
  • Winter / snow
  • Vegetarian
  • Gluten free
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Instant white rice 1/2 cup the precooked kind, not raw rice
Whole milk powder 1/4 cup
Sugar 2 tbsp
Sliced almonds 2 tbsp
Salt a pinch
Cocoa powder 1 tbsp
Powdered sugar 1 tbsp dissolves in the sauce without grit
Butter powder or a pat of butter 1 tsp

Method

  1. Mix the cocoa, powdered sugar, and butter powder in a mug or the pot lid with 2 tbsp of hot water. Stir until it is a smooth sauce and set it aside.
  2. Bring 400 ml of water to a boil. Dump in the rice, milk powder, sugar, and salt.
  3. Stir constantly for a minute so the milk powder does not scorch on the bottom.
  4. Cut the heat, cover, and wait five minutes. Stir again. It should be thick, not soupy.
  5. Pour the chocolate over the top and scatter the almonds. Eat warm.

The original is a baked rice pudding: raw rice simmered slowly in fresh milk, thickened with eggs, then finished in an oven. None of that survives a trail kitchen. Instant rice and whole milk powder do the same job in ten minutes on one burner, and the eggs go away completely — the starch coming off the rice is what thickens this, so you do not need them.

Make the sauce first, in the lid or a mug, while the pot is still cold. Chocolate mixed into boiling milk seizes into lumps, and once it does you are not getting it back. Keep stirring during that first minute on the flame too. Milk powder sticks and burns faster than anything else you will cook out there.

Packing

Rice, milk powder, sugar, and salt in one bag. Cocoa, powdered sugar, and butter powder in a second, smaller bag. Almonds ride separately so they stay crisp.

Variations

  • Skip the milk powder and use coconut milk powder for a dairy-free version.
  • Add a spoonful of instant coffee to the sauce for something closer to mocha.
  • Leave the almonds out entirely if nuts are a problem; the pudding does not need them.

https://savoriurbane.com/budinca-de-orez-cu-lapte-si-sos-de-ciocolata-la-cuptor-sau-la-multicooker