Sutlaç - Turkish Rice Pudding

Turkish cuisine has an abundance of sweets and we are sharing one of our favorite Turkish desserts today: Baked rice pudding, fırın sütlaç. Super easy, super creamy and oh so yummy!

You are probably familiar with Turkish baklava, but it is just one of the hundreds of amazing desserts in Turkey. There are a lot more treats than baklava and Turkish delight. And sutlac is the most popular one in the category of milk-based desserts.

What Is Sütlaç?

Sütlaç is a Turkish style rice pudding with a creamy texture like custard. It is one of the easiest desserts that can be prepared with simple ingredients that are already in your pantry. It is made of milk, rice and sugar.

There are two versions of sutlaç recipe in Turkey. Both versions use the same ingredients but there is a small difference in their cooking method. 

1. Stove-top rice pudding: It is cooked in a large saucepan, poured in individual dessert cups and served cold. This is also known as mom's sutlac recipe as it is the dessert that most moms prefer to make when they are in a hurry. It is quick and easy.
2. Baked rice pudding: It is known as fırın sütlaç, pronounced fur-UHN' soot-LAHCH', meaning oven sutlac. It has the same ingredients as the stove-top sutlac. And it is cooked in the same way. But it requires an additional step after the rice pudding is cooked on the stove-top. It should be poured into individual oven-safe bowls and baked until golden brown on top, which makes this version that special.

Traditionally, Turkish rice pudding is baked and served in small clay pots, but you can use ramekins too. 

That golden brown layer of skin on the top takes a simple rice pudding to a whole new level. Although it looks like French crème brûlée, the top of Turkish rice pudding is not crunchy at all. It has a silky skin texture with a caramelized and milky taste. 

And you don't need to do anything special for that golden skin layer on the top. No need for brushing the top with beaten egg yolk or sprinkling sugar on the top. Just bake it in the oven at high heat ( 400F / 200C) and you have that amazing layer with some burnt bits. So good!

Both versions are served cold, so waiting until they are wonderfully chilled in the refrigerator is the hardest part of this yummy rice dessert.

Ingredients

The best thing about the Turkish baked rice pudding recipe is the simplicity of it. There is no egg yolk or cream in this recipe. The ingredients we need are as follows: 

Rice: In Turkey, when making sutlac, we use round short grain rice named Osmancik and long grain rice, known as Baldo, is often used for making rice pilaf. It really doesn’t matter much though. You can use any rice as long as it doesn’t have a strong flavor. Italian Arborio (known as risotto rice), Spanish rice (also known as paella rice) and pudding rice (also known as broken rice) all work fine.

We don’t recommend Basmati or Jasmine rice because they would be too flavorful for this pudding. On the other hand, you might see these flavorful rices in Indian rice pudding recipes like instant pot kheer.

Water: It is for cooking rice before combining it with milk. Some recipes don't use water and suggest cooking rice in milk. However, we find that rice cooks faster and better in water. It doesn't soften easily when cooked in milk. So we always cook rice in enough water, which is the traditional method as well.

Milk: Use whole milk for the best creamy rice pudding. And fresh milk is even better but it is not very easy to find. Skimmed or semi skimmed milk works fine too, but the pudding won't be that creamy. It will still taste good though.

Corn starch: This is both to thicken the rice pudding and to give it the creamy texture. You can use either wheat starch or cornstarch. They both work in the same way. But if you are planning to make your rice pudding gluten-free, use corn starch or rice flour, which is the best substitute for starch.

Sugar: We use regular granulated sugar. It gives the best result. If you want a natural sweetener, you can use coconut sugar but the texture and color won't be the same.

Lemon zest: It is completely optional but highly recommended. We love that refreshing flavor of zest in milk based desserts like this.

Alternative Add-Ins: If you want to flavor your sutlac, you can add in some vanilla extract, rosewater or gum mastic. If you love fruit in your dessert, although it is not traditional, you can add in raisins, dates or fresh fruit too. You might need to reduce the amount of sugar then. Taste and adjust the sweetness to your taste.

How To Make It

Turkish rice pudding recipe has four steps.

1. Cook the rice with water in a large saucepan until tender (no need for rinsing the rice before cooking). Rice won't absorb all the water, there will still be some in the pan. And it will look creamy. 

2. Add in milk and sugar and bring it to boil. Then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes over low heat. You can add lemon zest at this step.

3. In a small bowl, make a slurry by whisking together ½ cup milk and 2 and ½ tablespoons of corn starch until smooth.

4. Pour it slowly into the simmering rice. Stir the rice constantly while doing this. Keep stirring and let the mixture simmer until it thickens, for 10-15 minutes.

5. Remove the pan from heat and pour the hot mixture into individual oven-proof cups like ramekins or clay cups.

6. Place them into an oven tray. Fill half of the oven tray with water so that the pudding has that nice silky skin layer on the top. This will also keep the rice pudding creamy and prevent it from getting dry. 

7. Carefully place the tray on the top shelf of a preheated oven (at 400F/200C). Bake them uncovered until golden brown. It is even better if you have some burnt bits. Watch their top and remove from the oven when they reach the desired golden color.
8. Remove from the heat and carefully take the bowls from the tray. Let them completely cool down and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
9. Optionally, you can top them with nuts like hazelnuts or pistachios.

Expert Tips

• Don't rinse the rice before cooking as we need that natural starch of rice for a creamy rice pudding. But if you still want to wash it before using, just give it a quick wash under cold water. Don’t try to make it super clean.
• You can use cooked rice or leftover rice if you want. Skip the first step (cooking rice) in this case and start right from the second step. 
• A creamy rice pudding needs slow cooking. So after adding milk and sugar into the pot, let it simmer slowly over low heat. 
• It needs constant stirring after you add corn starch (or rice flour) so that it won't stick to the bottom of the pan. 
• You can bake rice pudding in individual disposable aluminum pudding cups if you want.
• If they don't get golden brown enough after 15 minutes in the oven, broil them for 3-5 minutes.
• Sutlaç keeps well in the refrigerator for 4 days. 
• Freezing is not recommended as the taste and texture won't be as good. It tastes way better for three to four days after it is made. 
• To make it vegan, use almond milk, cashew milk or coconut milk. 

Variations

If you want, you can just make the easy stove-top rice pudding version. To do this, follow the same steps in the recipe below until the baking step. Just skip the baking step and let the rice pudding cool completely and then keep it in the refrigerator for a few hours. It won't have that golden top layer, but will still taste yummy. You can sprinkle a little cinnamon on it when serving.

Although this is the easy way known in Turkey, we came across an even easier way of making rice pudding on our lovely friend Mely’s blog. Her Mexican rice pudding recipe uses a mixture of whole milk and condensed milk and she says the pudding is ready in half the time with this shortcut unlike the old-fashioned method.

How To Serve It

Authentic Turkish rice pudding is served well-chilled. It makes a delightful snack any time of the day. We enjoy it cold in summer but it is better at room temperature on cooler days. The best thing to serve on the side is, without doubt, our traditional coffee, so you had better learn how to make Turkish coffee.

Some patisseries serve it with a dollop of Turkish ice cream dondurma or vanilla ice cream. You can do the same if you want to double your joy. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Rice Dishes

• Middle Eastern Rice with Raisins
• Sweet Rice Porridge

More Turkish Desserts

• Lokma Dessert Recipe
• Gullac Recipe
• Ashure Noah's Pudding
• Keskul Almond Pudding
• Semolina Cake Revani
• Künefe

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