Arroz con Leche

Name: Arroz con Leche
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: Long-grain white rice; Semi-skimmed milk; Evaporated milk; Fat-free Greek yoghurt; Caster sugar; Ground cinnamon

280 kcal a serving, against 419 for the traditional version. That is 139 kcal off, or 33%, with 16.3g of protein. Serves 6. 50 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Long-grain white rice simmered for an absolute age in whole milk and sweetened condensed milk, heavily infused with ground cinnamon. Served warm or cold, it sets into a heavy, intensely sweet pudding with a thick, sugary crust on top that you crack through with a spoon.

What changed, and what each change costs

800g of whole milk and 400g of condensed milk swapped for 800g of semi-skimmed milk, 400g of light evaporated milk and 60g of sugar

Condensed milk is basically pure syrup. Stripping it out and using lighter milk cuts the sugar load massively while still keeping the dish fundamentally milk-based.

What it costs you. You lose that ultra-sticky, syrupy mouthfeel. Evaporated milk brings a cooked milk flavour, but it lacks the richness of the condensed stuff. This is the first compromise you'll notice, because the pudding feels a lot less heavy and lacks that luxurious, lip-smacking finish.

Adding 300g of fat-free Greek yoghurt

Without the fat from whole milk, the rice can feel a bit watery. Stirring in thick Greek yoghurt at the end replaces the lost body and pumps up the dish so the pudding actually fills you up.

What it costs you. Greek yoghurt is tart. Traditional Arroz con Leche is purely sweet and milky. The tartness makes it taste a bit sharper, which some purists will absolutely hate. You're definitely losing the classic pure sweet profile, trading it for something that tastes a bit more like a breakfast dish.

200g of long-grain white rice reduced to 150g

Less starch means less heavy lifting for your digestion, leaving more room for the dairy elements to shine in the bowl.

What it costs you. You get slightly less actual rice in every spoonful, making it more of a creamy pudding than a solid block of cooked grains. If you love a fiercely stodgy pudding, you'll miss the sheer density of the original grains packed tightly together.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Long-grain white rice
Semi-skimmed milk
Evaporated milk
Fat-free Greek yoghurt
Caster sugar
Ground cinnamon

How it starts

Put the rice in a large saucepan with the semi-skimmed milk, light evaporated milk, sugar and cinnamon.
Bring the pan to a very gentle simmer over a medium heat.
Turn the heat down to low.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Mexican.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	419	280
Protein	11.9g	16.3g
Fat	10.4g	3.1g
Saturated fat	6.2g	1.9g
Carbohydrate	70g	46.4g
Protein per 100 kcal	2.8g	5.8g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Mexican prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. milk.

The method is in the book

This is a sharp, comforting bowl of pudding, but So: a sharper, lighter everyday alternative. A thick, coma-inducing restaurant dessert was never on the table once the fat came out. The Greek yoghurt gives it a cheesecake-like tang that I actually prefer to the cloying sweetness of pure condensed milk. It fills a massive hole when you want something sweet and milky after dinner, without completely writing off the rest of your evening. You might miss the pure sugary hit of the original dish, but you'll appreciate how much better you feel after eating a bowl.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Mexican, along with 56 more. Buy the paperback