I love rice pudding more than life itself (well, almost). Unfortunately, it doesn’t love me: within half an hour of eating it, I get drowsy and brain-foggy, and I want to lie down for a nap as my blood sugar first spikes and then crashes.
This dish allows me to enjoy rice-pudding-ish flavors and textures without the glycemic roller-coaster.
Quick biology refresher
When we eat sugary or starchy foods, these are broken down in the digestive tract into glucose (blood sugar). While glucose is essential to life, we only need to have about 1 tsp (4 grams) circulating in our body at any given time.
Eating a meal that’s high in sugar and/or easily digested starch can sharply increase our blood glucose level; now, instead of 1 tsp, we have 5, 10, or even more teaspoons of sugar traveling around our body. In response to this rapid rise in glucose, our pancreas makes insulin, the hormone whose job it is to move glucose from the bloodstream into cells throughout the body where it is used as fuel. Thus, insulin helps to maintain glucose at normal levels and keeps our cells supplied with energy.
Alas, when glucose and insulin levels fluctuate sharply — especially over a prolonged time — the body’s cells become numb to the effects of insulin and no longer take in the glucose that insulin is trying to deliver to them; this situation is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the main driver behind metabolic syndrome, a condition that’s linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, and dozens of other serious health conditions. (Please see my series of posts on metabolic syndrome: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.)
But what does all this have to do with rice pudding?
Different types of carbohydrate have different effects on blood glucose.
Some are broken down quickly and enter the bloodstream rapidly, causing a sharp increase in glucose (“spike”), triggering a rapid increase in insulin, which in turn leads to a sharp drop in glucose (“crash”). These types of carbohydrate, which are often low in fiber, fat, or protein or may contain fast-releasing starch (amylopectin), are termed high-glycemic. Examples of high-glycemic foods include short-grain, sticky, or sushi rice, white bread, bagels, cookies, crackers, pretzels, and instant oatmeal.
Other types of carbohydrate are broken down more slowly, enter the bloodstream gradually, and cause a less-pronounced glucose and insulin spike; these are called moderate- or low-glycemic. Lower-glycemic foods often contain more fiber, protein, fat, or so-called resistant starch (amylose), all of which slow down their conversion into glucose. They include baby potatoes (harvested early in the season), beans, lentils, certain types of rice, and oats.
The types of rice generally used to make rice pudding — such as arborio, short-grain, jasmine, sticky (glutinous), or sushi rice — are very glycemic as they contain a large proportion of highly glycemic amylopectin. Other types of rice — like basmati, parboiled, red, and black rice — are less glycemic as they contain more of the less-glycemic starch, amylose. However, they don’t lend themselves well to making rice pudding as they remain chewy and don’t yield the deliciously sticky creaminess of a pudding cooked with high-amylopectin rice.
Enter steel-cut oats
Oats are high-amylose grains, with an amylose content of around 25-30% of their total starch, which gives them a low-moderate glycemic load of 10. Compare this to 38 for sushi rice, 34 for short-grain white rice, and 31 for arborio! (These GL numbers are from the University of Sydney’s glycemic index/load database, www.glycemicindex.com).
To further lower the glycemic impact of this dish, I whisked two eggs into the hot rice pudding; that’s because protein and fat slow the conversion of sugar and starch into blood glucose. You can add even more protein in the form of unflavored protein powder, and, if you want to boost the dish’s caloric value, add fat in the form of MCT oil (an unflavored coconut-derived oil that’s particularly easy to absorb — excellent for people trying to gain weight) or butter.
I cooked this dish in cow’s milk; you can replace that with plant milk of your choice if you don’t tolerate dairy, though you may need to add protein powder if your plant milk contains significantly less protein than cow’s milk (many do).
Steel Cut Oat "Rice Pudding"
Equipment
- 1 medium oven-proof saucepan with a lid
Ingredients
- ½ cup steel cut oats
- 3 cups milk I use whole milk; if you don't tolerate dairy, use an alternative milk you like (it may not have the same nturitional profile as milk; see notes)
- 2-inch piece of lemon peel optional; cut with a vegetable parer; preferably untreated/organic lemons
- 1 cinnamon stick
- a pinch of salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ to 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- In a medium pot, combine the milk, oats, lemon peel (if using), cinnamon stick, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven. Set the timer for 30-40 minutes (30 yields al dente oats, 40 leaves them a little softer; you decide.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar until well-mixed.
- Once the oats' cooking time is up, remove the pot from the oven. Remove the lemon peel (if using). Add a half cup of the hot oat mixture to the egg mixture, a tablespoon at a time, vigorously whisking to incorporate.
- Add the egg mixture back into the pot of oats and milk and whisk to combine. Since the pot and the milk are piping hot, the mixture should thicken quickly. If not, place it on a burner over low heat and stir until the egg custard thickens; don't bring to a boil or the mixture will curdle.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. The pudding will thicken as it cools.
- Serve hot, warm, or straight from the fridge. Top with a splash of milk, a dusting of cinnamon and/or nutmeg, berries, nuts, a drizzle of cream, or a pat of butter. For an extra-special treat, stir some chopped dark chocolate into the hot mixture for deliciously creamy chocolate rice pudding.
- Refrigerated in a tightly sealed container, this will keep for 4-5 days.