Baked rice pudding (Fırın sütlaç)

1. Wash the rice and cook it in 300 ml of water over low heat for 10-12 minutes until the water is completely absorbed.

2. Pour in most of the milk, add the scraped vanilla pod and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring.

3. Mix the rice flour with the remaining 100 ml of cold milk until smooth, add it with the sugar to the rice and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened; remove the vanilla pod.

4. Preheat the oven grill to 220 °C; ladle the pudding into ovenproof bowls and stand them in a baking tin half-filled with water.

5. Grill in the upper third of the oven for 12-15 minutes until the tops are browned in patches.

6. Cool, chill for at least 3 hours and serve sprinkled with cinnamon.

Tip: A classic of Turkish pudding shops (muhallebici). The water bath protects the pudding so only the top takes colour – that caramelised skin is the whole point.