Excellent Rice Pudding (that happens to be vegan)

I didn't choose this recipe because I wanted to make vegan rice pudding. I chose this recipe because I had a half gallon of soy milk in the fridge that I wanted to use up and I love rice pudding. That is to say I love yummy stuff and am not a vegan and I deem this recipe to be excellent and yummy. This recipe comes from the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes For Healthful Meals.

Excellent Rice Pudding (that happens to be vegan)
Ingredients
4 cups water
3/4 cup white rice (preferably basmati)*
1 quart 1% vanilla soymilk**
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup currants or raisins***
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel

Sliced seasonal fruit (optional)

Bring the water to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Add the rice and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Drain the rice and return it to the pan with the soymilk, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, currants or raisins, and lemon peel. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often until the pudding is thick and creamy. Serve warm or chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
If you like, garnish the pudding with strawberry slices or other fresh fruit.

*I used aborrio
** I used Silk Light Vanilla Soy Milk
*** I left these out

After the mixture came to a boil I cooked it quite low and slow for probably 45 or 50 minutes. For a long time it really looked like it wasn't going to come together to produce a creamy texture but it finally did and it's fantastic. Highly recommended recipe.