Black Rice Pudding: An Indonesian, Balinese Recipe (Vegan)
Indonesian Black Rice Pudding, The Balinese Way.
A Vegan, Gluten Free Pudding With Coconut Milk, Pandan And Cinnamon.
My Favourite For Breakfast Or Dessert. A Recipe From The Bali Retreat.
Introduction to black rice pudding
Black rice pudding is black rice slowly cooked with coconut milk, a pandan or bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon, until it is soft, creamy and a deep purple colour. In Bali and across Indonesia it is a favourite for breakfast and dessert. It’s vegan and gluten free. You soak the rice overnight, and the cooking takes up to an hour.
It’s my favourite recipe for black rice pudding, and it was given to me in the free cooking class at a Flametree Bali yoga retreat. I ate it most mornings there, and I still make it at home in Darwin.
Black rice is sometimes called forbidden rice. The story goes that it was once kept for royalty.
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Black rice pudding, ready to eat
Black rice pudding with coconut yoghurt and strawberries. Strawberries are a lovely low sugar fruit.
Ingredients for black rice pudding
Here are the ingredients for this Flametree Yoga Studio dish.
- 1 large cup of black rice
- 1 tin of coconut milk
- 1 and a half cups of water
- Half a teaspoon of salt, or less, to taste
- 3 to 4 cloves, or half a teaspoon of ground cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 pandan leaf, or a bay leaf
- Coconut yoghurt, to serve
- A banana, which you can cook in for sweetness, or serve alongside
- Berries, ideally purple ones like blueberries, to serve
You’ll sometimes find black rice at the major supermarkets. In Darwin, I’ve nearly always found it at the Asian Food Emporium on Bagot Road, or at other Asian grocers.
The black rice pudding ingredients
The main ingredients. This packet has coconut sugar in it, and many recipes have far too much sugar, so I leave most of it out.
How to make black rice pudding
Use these steps to make this Indonesian black rice pudding.
Step 1: Soak the rice overnight
- Put the black rice in a saucepan, cover it with water, and leave it overnight.
Step 2: Start the cooking
- Add one and a half cups of water, the coconut milk, the pandan or bay leaf, and the salt to the soaked rice.
- Bring it to the boil and cook until the rice is softish, stirring now and then.
Step 3: Add the spices
- Add the cloves and the cinnamon, and stir them through.
- Bring it back to a simmer.
Step 4: Simmer until tender, then serve
- Keep cooking until the rice is tender. Add water as you go, for the consistency you like.
- All up, the cooking can take up to an hour.
- Serve with coconut yoghurt, a little extra coconut milk if you like, and whatever fruit you fancy. The lower sugar fruits, like berries, are best.
With some white rice added
This batch has some white rice added. You can see the white grains, and it’s less black.
Is black rice pudding gluten free?
Yes. Rice contains no gluten, and that includes black sticky rice, sometimes called black glutinous rice. Here, glutinous just means sticky. With coconut milk, spices and fruit, this pudding is gluten free and vegan.
Some people add a little white rice, which makes the pudding stickier, or makes it go further. The pudding is then less black, as you can see above.
Why is black rice so dark?
Black rice gets its colour from natural plant pigments called anthocyanins. They’re the same family of pigments that colour blueberries. A 2024 review in Food Production, Processing and Nutrition looks at how black rice and its anthocyanins may help with blood sugar and blood fats after a meal.
When you cook it with coconut milk, it turns a deep purple or grey, depending on how much coconut milk you add.
Can you eat black rice pudding for breakfast?
Yes, and I often do. I add it to a bowl with stewed apple, frozen blueberries, banana and coconut yoghurt.
Or I stir a spoonful through my overnight breakfast mix. That’s 1 to 2 dessert spoons each of quinoa flakes, sunflower seeds and chia seeds, plus 1 dessert spoon of lecithin, soaked overnight. Serve it with fruit and your choice of milk. You can also cook the mix on the stove, just like rolled oats. It’s an easy, portable breakfast when you travel.
Black rice pudding for breakfast
Black rice pudding for breakfast, with stewed apple, frozen blueberries, coconut yoghurt, banana and husk.
My overnight breakfast mix
The ingredients for our overnight breakfast mix. I soak a dessert spoon of each overnight.
Black rice pudding: quick questions answered
How long does black rice pudding take to make?
Soak the black rice overnight. The next day, the cooking can take up to an hour.
What can I use instead of a pandan leaf?
A bay leaf works well. Pandan gives the classic Balinese flavour, but a bay leaf is easier to find.
Can I add white rice to black rice pudding?
Yes. Some people add a little white rice to make the pudding stickier, or to make it go further. The pudding will be less black.
Where did this black rice pudding recipe come from?
I was given it in the free cooking class at a Flametree Bali yoga retreat, where I often ate black rice pudding for breakfast.
More Flametree black rice recipes
Love black rice? Try my black rice pancakes, my black rice noodles with tofu stir fry, or my black sesame bliss balls with black rice.
Do you have a vegan recipe or dish you’d like to share?
Please contact me with any dishes you’d like to share with me.
Obviously, I’m especially interested in any dish that is already a great Darwin vegan option.
Alternatively, it may be a potential vegan Darwin recipe that I could adapt, or be inspired by, as I did here.
Experience eating alternatives at a Flametree Yoga Retreat
By the way, there are several upcoming Flametree yoga retreats in Bali in 2027.
Contact us for details of our Darwin yoga retreat packages, or our yoga class packages in the orange lines below.
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Meanwhile, start or re-start yoga or meditation with one of the HALF price deals below, or check out the retreat deals.
Learning to eat mindfully, as a result of yoga and pranayama meditation, is a great way to start more of a vegetarian or vegan journey, or simply mindfully eat whatever you choose.
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Recipe by Chris Lalor, Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin NT. General information only.
