Meat-Free Monday: Vegan carrot rice pudding

This was born out of necessity - I had an enormous pile of carrots that weren't going to keep for much longer. I started thinking about Indian desserts like carrot halva, and this was born. It would make a delicious, comforting (and substantial) dessert, but I actually ate it, warmed in the microwave, instead of porridge for breakfast.

Vegan Carrot Rice Pudding

1 cup uncooked brown basmati rice (I use metric cups)
1 1/2 cups water
1 piece of cinnamon, about 5cm long
3 green cardamom pods
3 cloves
400ml can coconut milk
700g carrots, scrubbed and grated
1 cup raw sugar

Put the rice, water and spices in a heavy based saucepan. Cover, bring to the boil and then turn the heat right down and simmer really gently until most of the water is absorbed. About 20 minutes. The rice won't be cooked yet but it will be starting to swell and soften.

Stir in the coconut milk, carrots and sugar and cover again. Cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is tender, fragrant, creamy and thick.

I just ate it as it was, but the incorrigible sweet tooth might like to top it with fresh mango, or a sprinkling more sugar, or some coconut cream.