The other day we had guests coming and we were flicking through our limited range of cookbooks we keep in Bridgetown then Maus suddenly said, ‘What about rice pudding? I like rice pudding.’  I was a bit nervous about the idea.  As a child I would cry if my mum made me eat rice pudding. I did not like it.  Mum’s rice pudding was baked and it had a brown skin on it. I am not sure if it was the skin that put me off.

Notwithstanding the above, I sent Maus off to town to buy the short grain rice.  I actually underlined the words short grain.  She came back with medium grain noting that the only short grain was sushi rice which she didn’t consider an option.

I can remember as a kid the only rice you could buy was short grain rice as the only rice you ate was in a rice pudding.  My how times have changed.  We now have a complex variety of long grain rice on the shelves but no rice to make a pudding.

I did a quick search on the web and determined that the sushi rice would work fine as a pudding rice, so poor old Maus was sent off to town again to buy the sushi rice.

The rice pudding was a success but I don’t see any need to add the strawberry jam.  We both thought it detracted from the dish (though it does give the photo some colour).

The morning after we had the rice for dinner Maus said, ‘I feel like rice pudding for breakfast.’  So, being the nice person I am, I made another lot.

This time Maus suggested that we try to make it in the pressure cooker as I always make risotto in the pressure cooker.  It worked a dream.  It was cooked in 10 minutes rather  than 40 minutes as per the recipe.  The only problem was, it did stick to the bottom of the cooker.

This recipe is by Gary Mehigan, from his book Comfort Food.

• 200g short grain rice (sushi rice will work if that is all you can get)
• approximately 1 litre of milk – the recipe advises to start with 850mls and add 150mls more if you need it.  I used the full litre.
• ½ a vanilla pod, split
• 3 egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar
• strawberry jam, to serve

1. Place the rice, milk and vanilla pod in a heavy based saucepan.
2. Bring to the boil then simmer over a very low heat for 40 minutes or until the rice is tender. You will need to stir the rice as it comes to the boil and very regularly whilst it is simmering otherwise it will stick.
3. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl until pale and creamy.
4. Remove the rice from the heat and add the egg mixture, stir to combine.
5. Cook over a very low heat for another 5 minutes.
6. If you wish, serve the hot rice pudding topped with a spoonful of strawberry jam. Better still, serve it with a big spoonful of thick cream.

If cooking the rice in a pressure cooker, you will need to bring the rice, vanilla and 1 litre of milk to the boil, give it a good stir to ensure it isn’t sticking, seal the pressure cooker  and then turn it down to a very low heat.  I left mine too high and it stuck.