Authentic Danish Rice Pudding Risalamande recipe - plus vegan ris’alamande option
This easy authentic Scandinavian rice pudding or ris’alamande is a classic dessert found on every Christmas table on Christmas Eve in Scandinavia. It’s a creamy pudding with a rich silky texture, dotted with crunchy almonds and topped with cherry sauce.
Ingredients
Risalande
- 3-4 cups (600g) Rice Milk Porridge (risengrød) You can use my easy risengrød recipe
- 1 Vanilla Pod or 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar powder 70g sugar
- ¾ cups cups (100g) Almonds peeled and chopped
- 1.7 cups (4 dl) Double Cream or heavy cream or cashew cream for a vegan version
- ⅓ cup (70g) Sugar
Homemade Cherry Sauce
- ½ pod Vanilla or 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar powder
- ⅓ cup (65g) Sugar granulated or caster (can be coconut sugar if you prefer)
- 0.4 cups (1 dl) Port Wine
- 0.8 cups (2 dl) Orange - juice
- 0.4 cups (1 dl) Cherry Wine
- 0.4 cups (1 dl) Water
- 2⅔ cups (400g) Cherries pits removed (can be fresh or frozen cherries)
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
Instructions
How to make authentic Scandinavian ris’alamande - the traditional Danish Christmas dessert
- Cut the vanilla pod into halves, and use a knife or spoon to scrape out the seeds. Mix the vanilla seeds with the sugar in a small mixing bowl.
- Place the almonds in a bowl. Bring water to a boil and pour the boiling water over the almonds. Let the almonds sit in the hot water for 10-minutes. Drain away the hot water and pour boiling water over the almonds again. Let the almonds sit for 2-minutes in the water before draining them away. Now, the almonds should be easy to pop out of the skins. Remove the skins from all of the almonds as quickly as you can while being careful not to burn yourself.
- Once the almonds are peeled, select the biggest best looking almond and set it asides. Chop the rest of the almonds, chopping half of the almonds more finely and the other half more roughly. Set aside.
- Next, whisk the cream into a fluffy whipped cream. Fold the sugar/vanilla mixture into the whipped cream until evenly incorporated. Start adding large spoonfuls of the rice porridge and fold it into the whipped cream. Continue until all the rice porridge and the whipped cream are combined into a delicious creamy pudding. Finally, fold in the chopped almonds and add one whole almond.
- Keep the rice pudding chilled in the refrigerator until it’s time to serve. When you’re ready to serve, place the bowl full of rice pudding in the middle of the table for everyone to ladle the pudding into their dessert bowl and top with homemade cherry sauce. Have fun finding the whole almond.
Making the homemade Cherry Sauce
- Cut the vanilla pod into halves, and use a knife or spoon to scrape out the seeds. Mix the vanilla seeds with the sugar in a small mixing bowl.
- Pour the vanilla sugar, port wine, orange juice, cherry wine, and water into a pot and set it on the stove. Bring to a boil while stirring gently, then turn the sauce down to a gentle simmer and let it cook for a few minutes.
- Next, gently transfer the cherries to the pot and mix to combine. Bring to a boil again, before turning the sauce down to a simmer. Let it simmer for 10-minutes.
- Now, in a small mixing bowl, whisk the cornstarch together with a few tablespoons of cold water.
- Whisk teaspoons of cornstarch into the sauce a little at a time until the sauce has the thickness you prefer.
- Remove from the heat and set aside. The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.