Gatnabour (Armenian Rice Pudding)

I've had this bookmarked for ages.  I stopped in at a Middle-Eastern-looking place to pick up a snack of hummus or whatever and this was on their dessert list.  I looked it up when I got home and found out it's Armenian.  Ok, something new to try.

I'm following the recipe from The Armenian Kitchen, just cutting it down to four servings.  That's a really cool widget that does the cooking math for you.  This is a basic rice pudding, but with new flavors.

The recipe recommends short-grain rice.  I do have Calrose, but chose to use Arborio because there was just enough left for this recipe.  It's going to be on the stove for over an hour, so you can use a harder rice.

1/2 C water
*1/3 C short-grain rice
*2 C milk
1/4 C sugar
pinch of salt
*1/2 Tb rosewater
cinnamon and nuts for serving, optional

1.  Bring rice and water to a simmer in a medium saucepan.  Lower heat to lowest setting, cover, and cook 15 minutes.

2.  Add milk to the saucepan.  Keeping the heat on low, simmer for 45 minutes, covered, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.  By the end, it's going to look like a rice soup.

3.  Stir in sugar and salt.  Continue to simmer for 15 minutes uncovered, or until thickened to desired consistency.  Stir in rosewater.

4.  Remove from heat and portion into serving bowls.  Can be served warm or chilled.  Dust with cinnamon and crushed nuts, if desired.  Pistachios are traditional, but I don't like them and used sliced almonds.

Difficulty rating  π