Rice pudding

What is the matter with Mary Jane?

She's crying with all her might and main,

And she won't eat her dinner - rice pudding again -

What is the matter with Mary Jane?

A.A Milne

All my bookings are now done but I'm feeling a bit uninspired so it's back to the lucky dip trick. And this time I picked Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food. Good thought I, but then I picked the page and it fell open at two recipes for rice pudding - Rice Pudding Flavoured with Mastic and Sholezad or Persian Yellow Rice Pudding. The page opposite wasn't much better either because it was the end of yet another rice pudding and a couple of lullabies. Well I have to say I almost chickened out and put it back on the shelf, but then I told myself off and thought of A.A. Milne and his lovely little poem.

And I actually really like rice pudding. Well the way that my mother used to make it. When I looked at the Guardian's How to Make the Perfect Rice Pudding, though I found that hardly anyone made it like my mum. They nearly all cooked the rice on the top of the stove, at least to begin with, and didn't bake it. To my mind though it is essential to do it in the oven or you don't get the beautiful tasty skin on top. So to begin with here is my mother's recipe - it's got to be the simplest pudding there is.

Cover the base of a pie dish with medium grain rice. Sprinkle a layer of sugar on top. Cover with milk to a few inches deep and then sprinkle the top with nutmeg or mixed spice. Put in a very slow oven and cook for an hour or so.

Yes I know it's a bit vague but try it. You need enough milk for the rice to absorb and swell and still remain creamy. Some people like it still runny, some like it solid. It's done when it's the consistency you like. Experiment.

At school it was horrible - I'm not sure why really. I don't think there were any spices in it, it was lumpy and I'm not even sure there was any sugar in it. It was revolting though and made me gag.

Nowadays rice pudding is quite fashionable again, and people do fancy things with it. So back to Claudia Roden. I note that even she says of the first one - the one with mastic (what is that?) "For those who like the flavour of mastic" which implies to me that not many people do, including her. The second one is a bit more promising though. You boil the rice with saffron (hence the yellow), then add a lemon syrup. Cook a bit more and then you can stir in some chopped almonds and serve it slightly cooled dusted with cinnamon. I think I prefer my mum's version though. The skin is the best part. Hers looked a bit like this version.