Zambito Rice Recipe

If we visit the beautiful city of Lima, in Peru, we will find a very popular and typical dessert of the region, called rice Zambito, a derivation of the classic sweet for parties and gatherings, known as arroz con leche.

With a basically similar preparation, the rice Zambito It looks totally different from its namesake, the rice pudding. Its main difference is an ingredient named “chancaca”, also known in other countries as panela, papelón, cane honey tablet or piloncillo, which gives the dessert a distinctive brown or golden color and a sweet but natural flavor.

In turn, another of its discrepancies is its form of consumption, since this is usually more casual, being served inside sources or individual glasses to share with family and also to observe a special moment or just to taste on a good day.

Now, we can say that the elaboration of this dessert follows the same indications of the traditional rice pudding and that, in addition, it has clear differences between them in terms of ingredients and portions. Nevertheless, el Zambito rice has its peculiarity, that is why, below, we will explain in detail and rigorously the preparation of this spectacular and distinguished dessert of the Lima culture. So prepare your utensils, dust off your seasoning and let's cook.

Zambit Rice Recipeo

Ingredients

• 4 cups of water
• 1 cup of rice (any rice)
• 6 units of cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 200 gr of paper or chancaca
• 200 ml of evaporated milk
• 150 ml of condensed milk
• 50 gr of raisins (50 raisins)
• 100 g grated coconut
• 100 gr of pecan nuts (can be normal nuts)
• A pinch of ground cinnamon
• Orange peel

Necessary utensils

• two pots
• frying pan (optional)
• Wooden spoon
• Spoons
• measuring cups
• Dish towel
• 6 glass cups, serving tray or large platter

Preparation

1. To begin, prepare a pot and place the rice inside, already measured, and then pour three cups of water.
2. Along with this, empty the spices, such as cloves, cinnamon, and optionally, the orange peel, place them to cook next to the rice over medium heat and let it boil until the water begins to reduce and the rice to grow, or therefore, to burst the grain.
3. When the rice is ready, reduce the flame to a minimum.
4. On the other hand, grab another pot or pan, preferably, to start cooking. melt the paper or chancaca. For this, use the 200 gr of chancaca along with a cup of water and empty them into the container. Let cook over low heat until you get a texture equal to light honey.
5. having the chancaca honey ready, carefully add it to the rice preparation while stirring carefully for 5 minutes. Keep the flame low until the honey covers and is fully incorporated into the preparation.
6. Obtained the brown color, characteristic of the dessert, add the remaining ingredients, that is, evaporated milk, condensed milk, along with the respective measures of raisins and grated coconut. Keep mixing gently over low heat until you notice a creamy textureAt this point our candy will be completely finished.
7. To serve, place portions in a small cup, on a tray or in a dish for later sprinkle cinnamon along with pieces of nuts, raisins and grated coconut.
8. As a last step, let cool to room temperature or put each portion of rice in the fridge so that its consistency and texture is thicker and more uniform.

Tips and recommendations

• If you taste the rice, and for your taste it does not have a beneficial sweetness, add chancaca or grated paper to the grains while they are cooking. Also, you can add brown sugar or another honey that you prepare at the moment, this will also help add more color to the dessert.
• If you introduce all the spices at the beginning of the cooking of the rice, they will help it to take consistency and acquire a fresh and particular flavor.
• It is very important not to go over the suggested measures, because based on them the time of production and cooking of the dessert.   
• It is due to cook the rice to medium low heat until boiled. Immediately lower the heat to the minimum and let it rest in that state until the surface is lukewarm.  
• Note that el rice cannot be completely driedTherefore, remember that the use of low heat is very important. If you notice that the rice is dry, add half a cup of water, only.
• Be careful when moving the rice, don't do it too hard, since the cereal at this point is too soft and you can break it.

Nutritional value

Knowledge for a healthy diet is key, whether for health or study, it is always important to know about the nutritional content and calories of food What do we take into our body?, in order to discover those good qualities that they can bring us, as well as the problems or cons of their consumption.

Therefore, with today's story you should know and understand the nutritional value of this delicious Peruvian dessert that you are going to eat. Keep in mind that each portion of approximately 15g contains: 10 gr of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fat and only one gram of protein.

In this sense, each person in his diary needs at least 2000 grams of calories, so we could conclude that this dessert is not the most nutritious, having in Keep in mind that it's practically just carbohydrates and sugar., which would serve to spend and enjoy a good afternoon with the family, or as a complement after a balanced lunch and not to benefit diets with their daily intake.

history of dessert

And what does this whole concept originate from? Good question. As we had already mentioned, this dessert, which is extremely popular in the city of Lima, It is a derivative of rice pudding, where its preparation is exactly the same, as opposed to a single ingredient, which is the “chancaca”,  typical component in the gastronomy of many American and Asian countries, prepared from the sugar cane syrup.

The name given to this traditional dessert is derived from an also traditional word called "Baboon", a term that was acquired by people who had miscegenation between African blacks and American Indians; we could call this one “brown rice pudding”.

In addition, if we review the oldest Spanish recipe books, we will always find the reference that rice is "Stewed with milk”, tradition that has transcended from generation to generation, carrying out evolutions or representative variations such as our beloved "Rice Zambito" that, in principle, it was not made with sugar or chancaca, it was prepared with natural honey, since the refineries did not exist until the end of the XNUMXth century, when Napoleon opened his first refinery in 1813, giving the Spanish the opportunity to defend the business towards the end of the century, and thus spread throughout the rest of the world.

Finally, a very good clarification would be to say that the Spanish brought this new culinary culture to Peruvian indigenous lands, and this same knowledge transfigured the traditional dessert into what it is now, a typical sweet from the same nation with European roots.