Serves: 4 people
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
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Cuisine: Indian
Course: Dessert, Sweets
Difficulty level: Easy
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There is no need to introduce Kheer. Everyone's favourite dessert is kheer! This rice kheer recipe is incredibly rich, creamy and delicious. It's the ideal dessert for any time you're craving something sweet or feeling like getting into a cosy nook of comfort eating. With just a few staple ingredients such as ghee, rice, milk and sugar, this rice pudding from North India can be prepared quickly and easily. Rich rice kheer is the most traditional form of this delicacy, made by slowly cooking rice grains, full milk and sugar until it is the perfect mixture.
The ingredients of the Indian dessert kheer are often grains, lentils or their flours. Occasionally even vegetables and fruits. It is typically created with milk, sugar, some dry fruits and has a pudding-like texture. The spices used as flavourings include nutmeg, cardamom, saffron and others like rose water, kewra water, vanilla, coffee, chocolate or any fruit flavour.
There are numerous kheer dish variations in Indian cuisine, localised variations such as Bengali payesh or the South Indian payasam. In South India, gur is used as a sweetener instead of sugar. Making rice kheer is simple, all you have to do is simmer the ingredients together slowly.
This kheer recipe is made with Unpolished Indrayani rice from Aazol.in. It is a highly aromatic native variety of rice that has a unique sticky texture and gives the kheer recipe a unique sweetness and richness. While this unpolished rice makes the kheer feel rich and creamy it doesn't become overly mushy, which is perfect. So let’s get started with the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Aazol Indrayani rice
- 6 tablespoon sugar
- 4 cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoon ghee
- ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
- 1 pinch saffron strands
- 1 tablespoon chopped almonds
- 1 tablespoon chopped cashews
- 1 tablespoon chopped pistachios
Instructions
Soaking the Indrayani Rice
- Rinse and wash one cup of unpolished Indrayani rice. It will require three to four washes before the water runs clear.
- Soak the Indrayani rice for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Do not omit the step of soaking the rice in this kheer recipe, it is crucial.
- After draining, set the rice aside.
Blanching almonds
- In a small pan or pot, heat some water. Once the water reaches a boiling point, turn off the heat source and add ten to twelve almonds and set it aside for half an hour. After this, chop and peel the almonds. Almonds soaked overnight may also be used.
Making kheer
- In a bowl, soak some saffron strands in three tablespoons of milk.
- Add two tablespoons of ghee to a pan and heat it over medium heat. Add the drained rice to the pan and stir continuously.
- Continue stirring the rice until it is properly roasted in the ghee or until the grains start to separate and swell apart. This will require four to five minutes.
- Continue stirring over a low to medium heat, then pour in 4 cups of heated whole milk.
- Maintain a high flame until the milk boils. Pour in the saffron milk.
- Now, cook the rice for 9 to 10 minutes or until it's cooked through on medium-low heat.
- To check, take a rice grain and crush it. It is cooked if it becomes mashed.
- Add six tablespoons of sugar immediately. The amount of sugar can be changed somewhat depending on the taste.
- At this point, additional milk might be added to achieve a thin consistency. Indrayani rice has been used which is sticky rice, so it might need more milk if you want a thinner consistency.
- Turn off the heat and add the sliced cashews, almonds and pistachios.
- Serve warm, cold, or hot. If the kheer has thickened, warm it up and add a splash of milk.
Recipe tips
- Use whole or full-fat milk to achieve a rich, creamy consistency. Although low-fat milk can be used to prepare this kheer, the consistency of the dish will be less creamy.
- You can use jaggery as a sweetener. Add brown sugar or jaggery but only once the kheer is cooked. Once prepared, allow it to cool somewhat before adding the brown sugar or jaggery.
- To suit your taste, modify the sugar, nuts and dry fruits.
