Last fall, a publisher sent me a heavy package. Inside were two copies of Amy Chaplin's At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen, a vegan cookbook and whole foods manual of sorts. Amy used to be the executive chef at Angelica's Kitchen, the legendary vegan restaurant in New York City, and now works as a private chef, teacher and recipe developer. At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen is her magnum opus, if I may be so bold, a well-researched, deliciously crafted and carefully written guide to making the most of all the wide array of plants – from whole grains to beans to vegetables to seaweed, yes – available to us today. It feels like an instant classic, modern and interesting and definitive. (Also, the photography is jaw-droppingly beautiful.)
These days, it's tough to keep up with the onslaught of information blaring at you from every corner, and the cookbook market is no exception. The rate at which new cookbooks come down the pipeline is crazy, for lack of a better word, and the speed and haste in which they are thrown together is sometimes depressingly apparent. But in this case it's clear that Amy poured an enormous amount of work into getting the book just right. There is so much information here, so many thoughtful little tips and nice stories, not to mention the delicious recipes, that it really earns the adjective of encyclopedic. I'm so impressed.
I've cooked from the book for several months now, but I've also kept it by my bed for a soothing bedtime read and I'm happy to say that it works on both counts. For those of you who are interested in why soaking grains is so good for you, how to use seaweed to bolster the flavor of beans, for example, or how to make desserts out of things like ground toasted coconut, maple syrup and oat flour, you need this book. And if you're a vegan, this book will become your Joy of Cooking. I'm not a vegan, or even a vegetarian, but the recipes are so richly conceived and so well-developed that they don't read as "special diets" food, but rather as warming, soulful, wonderful food, the kind I'd like to eat all the time. (There are a few exceptions, mostly in the dessert chapter, but I imagine that for people who are gluten-free or vegan or lactose-intolerant or all of the the above, it's manna from heaven. I mean, toasted coconut crust for pies, chocolate pots de crème, Earl Grey fruit cake, helloooo?)
My latest discovery in the book is a black rice breakfast pudding made with coconut milk and lightly sweetened with maple syrup. You soak the rice overnight first, then cook it with coconut milk, water and nut milk (those of us who aren't vegan can use regular milk, like I did, which makes the pudding creamier than nut milk will) until it's soft and creamy and the "pudding" is a deep, beautiful purple. Spooned into a bowl and topped with cool slices of banana and some crisped-up toasted pieces of coconut (regretfully missing from the photos here), it's the nicest breakfast I've had in a long while. Warming, rib-sticking, tropical. Hugo loved it too, by the way!
My husband is obsessed with Amy's turmeric lemonade that I doctored with blood oranges during a recent onset of the flu, and next up on our to-try list is her silky cauliflower-celery root soup made with two whole roasted heads of garlic and roasted shiitakes. There's cherry-coconut granola and a corn-tofu frittata, a hibiscus drink made with ginger and citrus and a black bean butternut stew, among so many other things I cannot wait to try.
And! The second copy is for one of you! Yippee! Just leave me a comment and tomorrow evening I'll pick a winner.
Have a wonderful Friday, everyone. March is almost here!
UPDATE: Anne is the winner! Thanks for participating, everyone! Comments are now closed.
Amy Chaplin's Black Rice Breakfast Pudding with Coconut and Banana
Adapted from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen
Serves 4 to 6
1 cup black rice, washed and soaked in 4 cups of water for 12-24 hours
1 cup coconut milk
1 1/4 cups milk (cow or almond)
2 cups water
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup or coconut nectar
Sliced banana, for serving
Toasted coconut flakes, for serving
1. Drain and rinse the rice. Place in a heavy-bottomed pot and add the coconut milk, almond or cow's milk, the water and the salt. Bring to a boil over high heat without the lid, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. (Some liquid may escape – as above.)
2. When the rice is tender and the pudding is creamy, remove from heat and stir in the sweetener. If desired, you can thin the pudding with a little extra nut or cow's milk. Serve topped with sliced banana and toasted coconut. Leftovers can be reheated the next day with a little water stirred in to loosen the pudding.
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198 responses to “Amy Chaplin’s Black Rice Breakfast Pudding with Coconut and Banana”
Gorgeous cookbook! And what a stunning looking rice pudding.
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Whoa whoa whoa this sounds like everything that’s exciting to me in food right now. I adore Angelica Kitchen: some of my most memorable, favorite meals of all time happened there. Crossing my fingers!! 🙂
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Yum yum yum. And: I’m eating Amelia Morris’s Corn, Chile, and Potato soup leftovers for lunch today =)
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Great reality-check photo!
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Purple Porridge that can be started in PJs before bedtime……..my five year old Molly is going to love this!
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I’ve been wanting to make this, now it is going to happen. love the change of winning a copy of that book. But a good book review is worth a lot to me, especially because of all the interesting sounding books that are appearing. Indeed, constantly it seems. Thanks!
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This pudding looks amazing! And I’ve had my eye on this cookbook for some time. What a treat!
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This looks delicious! I need breakfast rice pudding in my life.
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I love the sound of turmeric lemonade with blood oranges (in the fall when I had bronchitis, I became obsessed with a juice called the Turmeric Sunrise; it was heavenly and I imagine blood oranges would have made it only more so) and this breakfast rice pudding sounds fantastic and wholesome, too!
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Oh my – beautiful color! And the turmeric lemonade sounds like something I will have to try…
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That rice pudding sounds wonderful.
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I just counted six cans of coconut milk in my pantry. This will help. I’m definitely intrigued by the turmeric lemonade.
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Hi… I’m not vegan…but I’m a vegetarian
I absolutely love to try different cuisines… N being a doctor… Needless to say I’m quite a health freak…
Wud love to try vegan recipies ( which by the way I have tried and failed many times..:-( )
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What a great idea for a breakfast! Love!
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Mmmmmh, das tönt wirklich himmlisch! Das Schwarz-Lila finde ich fast ein bisschen unheimlich 😉
Über das Kochbuch würde ich mich wahnsinnig freuen, YUM.
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ok, you’ve successfully convinced me that i need yet another type of rice in my collection – and yet another cookbook! 🙂
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I am in desperate need of a new cookbook to re-inspire me, as it seems I’ve lost my cooking mojo. This looks like it could be just the thing.
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Im not vegan either, but these recipes do sound good! And with so many friends with various special dietary needs, it sounds like this could become my go-to cookbook when meeting those challenges! Thanks for sharing!
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Beautiful pudding! I would love a copy of the cookbook.
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Amy Chaplin’s book is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve cooked from it often. My cookbook club is cooking from it this Saturday. It will no doubt be an amazing dinner!
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I’m so pleased to hear about this breakfast option and a lovely cookbook. I’ve been trying out new morning foods — the latest is peanut butter quinoa oatmeal — and I’ve been looking for an exciting rice-based porridge. Now I can try this!
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My little nephew loved it! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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dang this looks incredible. thank you for sharing!
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This sounds amazing. I sometimes struggle as a vegetarian in NYC when all I have to look at is vegan Instagram accounts from Australia filled with tropical fruit (it’s like 5 degrees here right now, ha). This would help so much!
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Oh, this has been on my wishlist for quite some time!
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This sounds like a must read! Thanks for sharing, Luisa.
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I ‘ve been dreaming sbout this book. We are cow s milk allergic so it may be helpful.
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Oh I’d love a new cookbook to peruse. The black rice breakfast pudding looks delicious too!
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this sounds beautiful! all of your descriptions make me want to cook this on the spot (or tomorrow morning for breakfast). I’ve been in a spinach smoothie rut lately and would love some more creative (and filling) breakfast ideas!
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Looks great! Gonna try it!
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Ahh I want this book!
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Thanks for the fab pix and thoughtful write-ups. I SO enjoy your blog. Are you familiar with The Seductions of Rice, by Naomi Alford & Jeremy Duguid? There’s a recipe in there named after their son “Tashi’s Favourite”. It’s a very similar one to this one and it’s wonderful. It’s also one of my daugher’s favourites. Making this one for her next visit! The cookbook will go to her, coz student’s need good books! Hope you’re whole family’s in better health too.
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Sounds like a great book to try
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This looks divine, and turmeric lemonade sounds pretty interesting too…fingers crossed.
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Lovely post and recipe as always. You make the cookbook sound very palatable!
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yes! i was just thinking that a healthy rice pudding recipe i could use for breakfast would be just the thing to help me survive until spring 🙂 thanks for the chance to win!
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Yes please – you make this cookbook sound nothing short of incredible!
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I love black rice, pudding in all forms, and coconut so this looks like the perfect breakfast to me! I’d even eat it as dessert!
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Book sounds great!
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I’m such a fan of Amy’s work! I can’t wait to read her cookbook and bake all those pies I’ve seen photos of!
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The book looks amazing – as does that pudding. I never thought about rice pudding for breakfast before. Thanks!
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This comes at a time when I’ve really become interested in what are, essentially, alternative versions of porridge — that is, made with other grains such as brown rice. This looks divine. I recently went to The Providores in London, where they make the most delicious brown rice, apple, maple syrup and miso porridge with tamarillo compote. This recipe, whilst different, looks like it might well have a similar comfort-factor. Also, can one ever go wrong with coconut?!!
I have to say, I’m really intrigued by this book — I’m interested in learning about the full spectrum of foods and go vegetarian most of the time, but have yet to find a vegan-esque cookbook that I’ve been convinced by. Your description makes this sound very promising, though! Thank you for sharing. Oh, and I’ve never commented before, but your blog is wonderful!
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That looks amazing! This pudding will make a great snack during my yoga teaching methodology classes. Cant wait to make it.
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Rice pudding for breakfast? Yes please! I sometimes make porridge with coconut milk and serve it with mango and lime. This looks like my kind of thing and the other recipes from the book sound equally delicious.
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This sounds like a wonderful book. Fingers crossed – and thanks for the breakfast pudding recipe
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Delicious sounding recipe and I’d love to win the cookbook!
Thanks for sharing
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Thanks for the cookbook tip!!
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Thank you for this lovely post. Delicious and comforting!
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J-u-s-t the thing to save me from my winter blues, and my winter blues are b-a-d this year!!! I need these recipes to take me, if not literally!, then deliciously!, into spring and summmmmmmmmer!
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They make a version of this at one of my favourite breakfast places in Paris, Holybelly. Do you know it? (They also do a “London Fog” a small Earl Grey latte lightly sweetened with vanilla syrup. Almost makes the grey days worth it.) Anyway, nice to know I can have a bowl of black rice breakfast without leaving the house too!
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