Creamy Diner-Style Rice Pudding

This is the quintessential creamy rice pudding—softly cooked, not baked. Its delightful texture comes from a pastry cream that is made separately and folded into the warm rice.

Cook the rice until it’s very tender—to the point where it seems overcooked: This is important. No matter how creamy the pudding, you don’t want to chew through al dente rice.

This recipe is adapted from one made by Naomi Uman, a former assistant of mine. Whether or not to add the rai