By Keighley’s Mike Armstrong, an award-winning master baker with a big passion for baking...

YOU must have tried rice pudding at least once in your life, and know it is a delicious sweet delight.

But it may come as a surprise that rice pudding was not always sweet.

It is the king of winter puddings, but pinpointing the exact origin of this pudding is quite difficult because it can be traced back to multiple cultures, like ancient India and China and more.

Rice has been a major part of Indian cuisine since 6000 BCE, and in India rice pudding is called Kheer and was not sweet.

By the 12th century, it was called white pot, and a sweet version of rice pudding arrived in the 15th century when rice was the elite of food and only affordable for the rich and wealthy.

By the 18th century, rice had become very common, and rice pudding was an everyday dish.

The Victorians made it widely popular when they served it as a nursery food, but they made it so plain, it was almost boring.

Fast forward to the present day, and it's become usual for the school dinner ladies to make rice pudding for the menu, making it a childhood memory for most.

Making rice pudding is losing its heritage, but surely the pudding is still wanted by many today.

Rice was recently one of the budget foods the Office for National Statistics highlighted as increasing in price at a much faster rate than general inflation – the price of milk and butter has also soared.

Rice pudding is traditionally made with rice, milk, cream and sugar and sometimes flavoured with vanilla, nutmeg, jam or cinnamon.

It can be made in two ways – in a saucepan, or by baking it, which I prefer because it means the pudding has a more creamy consistency which develops a thick crust and distinct texture.

Pre-cooked rice pudding can be found in cans and pots, but it's easy to make your own. In Yorkshire, we have our own alternative recipe which is frequently used and uses butter instead of cream, with a pinch of salt, and requires to stand an hour prior to cooking. But it's always mandatory to add a good dollop of jam. Get the jam out and give this recipe a swirl!

RECIPE

RICE PUDDING

Serves 4

Ingredients:

100g/3 1/2oz pudding rice, which is widely available in any supermarket

550ml/19fl oz milk

150ml/5fl oz double cream

50g/2oz caster sugar

1 whole nutmeg grated, or heaped teaspoon of ground nutmeg (it might sound a lot but it needs it to make great skin!)

25g/1 oz butter

4 good tablespoons of raspberry jam to serve

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/140C fan/Gas Mark 2.

2. Rub the butter around the insides of a large round ovenproof dish.

3. Wash the pudding rice in a sieve under the cold tap.

4. Add the rice to the dish along with the milk, cream and sugar and stir thoroughly through.

5. Grate or sprinkle over the surface of the pudding the nutmeg.

6. Cook for 2 hours in the middle of the oven, but cover with foil if you don’t like a lot of skin, before serving piping hot from the oven with a dollop of jam.