Chocolate Orange Rice Pudding

I fell in love with rice puddings in Toledo, Spain, where Katy and I had a wonderfully cool arroz con leche in a small but blissfully air conditioned restaurant -- Toledo is hot in August. The traditional version is scented with lemon peel and stick cinnamon, so it keeps its pure white color. Since this version is dark brown anyway, the ground cinnamon doesn't hurt its looks, and means you need one less unusual ingredient.

I cooked up this version in honor of Katy's birthday, since she's a chocoholic and especially loves those chocolate oranges they sell around Christmas. To give credit where it's due, the recipe is based on largely on one from Saveur magazine's Tex-Mex special issue, with inspiration from Maricel Presilla's complicated but intriguing version. The combination of spicy peppers and chocolate is one I've had several places; the heat does something to really bring out the chocolate flavor. The idea of a carmelized "brulee" topping came from Bakus in Durham, which I wrote about earlier.

While you could easily make it with leftover Uncle Ben's from last night's dinner, the shorter grain rices release more starch and hence give a stickier, creamier pudding. This can also be adapted back to a non-chocolate version, by using only 1/4 + 1/8 c sugar (since there's no chocolate bitterness to counteract) and lemon zest instead of orange. Obviously, omit the chocolate and cayenne pepper.

In a medium sauce pan, bring to boil (covered) 1 cup water, and add

1. 1/2 c short- or medium-grain rice

Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is tender and all liquid is absorbed. Add in

1. 1 c whole or reduced-fat (not skim) milk
2. zest of 1/2 orange (1 long strip if possible)
3. 1/4 t ground cinnamon
4. 1/16 t cayenne pepper (optional)
5. 1/4 t kosher salt
6. 1/8 c cocoa powder
7. 1/2 + 1/8 c sugar

Cook, stirring very frequently until thickened. Keep in mind that it will thicken more as it cools, so stop a bit short of where you want it. Remove from heat and stir in

1. 1 t vanilla extract

At this point, you can chill it in an ice bath or go ahead and put it in ramekins and put it in the refrigerator. You could stir in some semisweet chocolate chips once it's cool, too, for a double-chocolate version. When you're ready to serve, sprinkle some

1. light brown sugar

on top of each pudding and carmelize with a torch or the broiler. (Propane torches are about $20 at the hardware store for a nice big one.) Serves 4.