I almost named this recipe rice pudding, because that is what you think of when you cook rice with sugar and milk, but it isn’t quite a pudding. It is rather firm, but sweet, black rice.  So it isn’t quite pudding-y. Plus, it isn’t cooked with dairy milk, it is cooked with coconut milk.

A fellow blogger introduced me to Forbidden Black Rice.  I hadn’t heard of it before she mentioned it to me. This rice is “forbidden” because it was limited to Chinese royalty for centuries. Luckily, we live in a time when you can get black rice from the bulk bin of the local organic supermarket.

Looking up this ingredient, I found out that black rice has the greatest amount of antioxidants of any kind of rice, plus has a good amount of iron, protein, and fiber.   Tonight we were having a meal without rice, so I thought it would be the perfect time to try to make something with the black rice that I bought to experiment with.

My idea was to make something akin to mango sticky rice, since I have an extreme appreciation of that dessert.   Mango sticky rice is much firmer and less creamy than a regular rice pudding, so I thought that baking the ingredients might produce a similar result.  I was quite happy with the result. I hope you’ll try it.

Baked {Sweet} Coconut Black Rice With Mangoes and Bananas

1 cup black rice rice
1 cup water
1 ½ cups  coconut milk (separated)
1 tablespoons coconut oil
1-2 saffron threads (optional)
2-3 tablespoons maple sugar
½ cup  Shredded coconut
Fruit to top- mangoes, bananas
Optional toppings – shredded coconut, cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Rinse rice in several changes of cool water.  Add water to cover, and soak for 30 minutes. Open can of coconut milk, and skim off the creamy layer on top. Reserve this to drizzle on top of the baked dish.

In a 4 cup capacity baking dish, place rice, coconut oil, water, 1 cup coconut milk, maple sugar, and saffron thread.

Stir and cover tightly with aluminum foil.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and uncover. Add shredded coconut, and 1/2 cup coconut milk.

Stir again.

Cover tightly with foil again, and bake a further 45 minutes.  If not serving right away, keep covered with foil. Try to keep warm by keeping it in the warm oven, or by wrapping a clean towel around it.

When ready to serve, uncover, and drizzle with the reserved coconut cream.

Top with sliced bananas and mangoes.

Grate some nutmeg on top, if desired.

Note – Additional shredded coconut or some cinnamon can be used as a topping as well.

If you prefer a creamier rice, you can add ½-1 cup more coconut milk. (if you don’t have black rice, you can make this with whole grain brown rice – not instant. It won’t look the same, but would taste good)