Risgrynsgröt (Swedish Christmas rice porridge)
55 min · 16 g protein · 259 cals / serving
The porridge on every Swedish Christmas table: round-grain rice cooked slowly in milk with a cinnamon stick until thick, soft and creamy, then finished with a little butter and plenty of quark, which makes it extra silky. Serve it hot with cinnamon and cold milk, and hide one almond in the pot for luck.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup boiled quick-cook pudding rice, round-grain porridge rice (grötris)
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1 cinnamon stick ground cinnamon, plus ground cinnamon to serve
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 1/4 cups quark, plain, at room temperature; stands in for the whipped cream some families fold in
To serve
- 1 tsp granulated sugar, to serve
Steps
- Put the rice, water, salt and cinnamon stick in a heavy-based pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the water has almost all been absorbed.
- Pour in the milk, bring back to the boil, stirring, then turn the heat right down. Put the lid on and leave to simmer very gently for 35–40 minutes, stirring now and then and scraping the bottom, until the grains are soft and the porridge is thick and creamy. If it catches on the bottom, lower the heat and do not scrape the burnt layer into the rest.
- Take the pan off the heat and remove the cinnamon stick. Stir in the butter and then the quark until smooth and glossy.
- Spoon into bowls and serve with a dusting of ground cinnamon, a little sugar and a splash of cold milk if you like.
Good to know
Can I cook it in the oven instead?
Yes, and it is the no-stir method many Swedish families use. After step 1, add the milk, bring to the boil, cover and put the pan in a 212°F oven for about 1 hour. Stir once halfway.
What is the almond for?
Tradition says whoever finds the single blanched almond hidden in the porridge will marry in the coming year (or simply gets a small prize). Drop it in just before serving.
What do I do with the leftovers?
Make ris à la Malta with whipped cream and oranges, or Gotland's saffranspannkaka, a saffron rice cake baked from cold porridge. Both are made for the day after.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 83
- Protein
- (25%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (8%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (67%)
- 14 g
- of which sugar
- 4 g
- Fiber
- <1 g
- Sodium
- 169 mg
More breakfast
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1035 kcal goes into the pot and 1454 g of ingredients comes out as about 1250 g of food: 83 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.