Rice Pudding

Rijstebrij

1 liter milk
150 grams rice
salt; lemon rind
brown sugar
butter

Boil the milk. Remove all the white from the rind and thoroughly wash the remainder. Wash the rice as well, and put rice, rind and a pinch of salt into the milk. Stir it once, turn down the heat to the lowest setting and let the mixture cook for about one hour. Stir the rice a few times while it is cooking. Serve it with brown sugar and a fair dollop of butter.

The fairly common dish also has found its way into Dutch children’s songs. The famed ‘Poesje-mauw’ song goes as follows: ‘Poesje-mauw, kom eens gauw. Ik heb lekkere melk voor jou. En voor mij, rijstebrij, oh wat heerlijk smullen wij!’ A free translation would be: ‘Pussy mew, come here now. I have such nice milk for you. And it’ll be, rice for me. We will lap it up, won’t we?’