Rice simmered slow in coconut or evaporated milk with vanilla and nutmeg until creamy — Senegal's rice pudding, made from the grain Senegambians mastered. The ancestral cousin of Southern rice pudding.
Sombi is the dessert and the convalescent food both — what a Wolof household makes to comfort a sick child or to end a meal sweetly. It uses rice the way the Rice Coast people knew rice best: patiently.
A gentle, easily digested dish traditionally given to the sick and recovering. Made with brown or parboiled rice it retains more fiber and B vitamins; the coconut milk adds medium-chain fats. As a treat it is far gentler than refined Western desserts, but the value rises sharply when made with whole-grain rice and little added sugar.
Simmer rice slowly in coconut milk (or evaporated milk thinned with water) with vanilla, nutmeg, and a strip of orange peel until thick and creamy, stirring often. Sweeten lightly. Serve warm or chilled. Use parboiled or brown rice for more nutrition.
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