This Easy 5-Ingredient Rice Pudding Brings Padma Lakshmi Back to Her Childhood

Comfort food can mean something different for everyone. For some, it may be a cold, refreshing noodle dish like Bibim Naengmyeon. For others it’s a cozy, convenient skillet dinner like Kale & White Bean Pot Pie with Chive Biscuits. Or, maybe it’s something sweet like a Fresh Apple Cake. For cookbook author and TV show host Padma Lakshmi, rice pudding is one of her most nostalgic comfort foods.

In a recent Instagram reel, Lakshmi says she was left with a distinct “taste memory” after trying Sholeh Zard, a Persian rice pudding she ate at the Tehran Market during the Iranian episode of  season one’s Taste the Nation. She mentions that the main flavors in this pudding—saffron, rose petal and cardamom—bring her back to her childhood, and we can’t wait to try it ourselves.

Since recipes like this Sholeh Zard are being tested for her upcoming Taste the Nation-inspired cookbook, Lakshmi didn’t give us an exact recipe, but we have the gist of it if you’re like us and can’t wait for the official publication.

Lakshmi starts by thoroughly washing her rice in a bowl over the sink. This act helps remove excess starch and results in a longer, fluffier grain. She also mentions in the comments that “a short- or medium-grain rice is fine.” Once rinsed, Lakshmi adds the rice to a medium pot filled with water (about four to five parts water to one part rice) and seasoned with rose water.

While the rice comes to a boil, she prepares her remaining aromatics. “Fragrance and aroma is a big part of rice pudding,” Lakshmi says, so she makes full use of the floral and savory spices she’s chosen. First, she grinds down plenty of whole cardamom seeds to add directly to the pudding. Then, she uses a mortar and pestle to crush saffron and make saffron water (often used in Persian Rice Pie (Tah Chin)), which gets mixed into the pot of pudding.

Once fully combined, the rice pudding—now a beautiful yellow-orange tint—is ready to spoon into a bowl. This is when Lakshmi sprinkles a mixture of ground rose petals and sugar over the bowled pudding, styles with more rose petals and serves.

This recipe looks so easy, fragrant and flavorful, and Lakshmi is sounding off in the comments that her taste memory successfully helped her create a dish that’s very similar to the Sholeh Zard she enjoyed in Santa Monica. So, needless to say, we need that cookbook with the official recipe ASAP.

In the meantime, if you’re not looking to develop a recipe in your kitchen like Padma, there are still plenty of delicious and healthy rice pudding recipes out there, including our highly-rated Dairy-Free Banana Rice Pudding and Cyprus-inspired Rice Pudding with Pistachios.

More from Lakshmi: This Simple Yogurt Rice Is My Ultimate Comfort Food