The recipe
Serves 4. Ready in 45 minutes, plus chilling time. You could serve this warm, but I like it best with the rice well chilled.
Put 95g pudding or arborio rice into a medium-sized, deep saucepan. Pour in 320ml of water and the same amount of full-cream milk.
Using a vegetable peeler, remove 4Â short strips of peel from a lemon, then add to the pan with 2 whole star anise. Slice half a vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the tiny black seeds, then stir into the milk and rice.
Bring the milk gently to the boil then, just before the milk rises up the sides of the pan, lower the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in 4 tbsp of caster sugar and let it dissolve. Remove from the heat. It will still be quite liquid at this point, no matter, it will thicken on cooling. Once it has cooled, chill thoroughly.
Scatter 35g of flaked almonds over the base of a shallow pan, place over a moderate heat and let them turn golden brown. Watch them carefully as the colour, then remove from the heat and set them aside.
Put 250g of fresh or frozen berries (cranberries, raspberries, blackcurrants or blueberries) into a saucepan, add 50g caster sugar and 90ml of water and bring to the boil. Let the mixture bubble until the berries start to burst and release their juices. Remove from the heat.
Pour 150ml of double cream into a bowl and beat it with a balloon whisk until it starts to thicken. It should not be so stiff it stands in peaks but sit in soft folds. Stir gently into the cool rice together with most of the almonds.
Serve in shallow bowls, spoon over some of the scarlet fruit and its juice then scatter with the remaining almonds.