This rice pudding aka kheer was part of the weekend binge and demand from hubby dearest. I have, however, tried to keep a tab on the calories by adding palm sugar instead of the normal refined sugar.  Rice pudding or kheer as its called in Hindi is a household favourite and reminds me of the festive times when mum used to make it. My hubby has a sweet tooth and finds excuses to eat some. Since it had been more than 2 months since I last made it, I agreed to indulge him today. This version of rice pudding/kheer has saffron and palm sugar in it.  I used almonds only for garnish, but feel free to enrich it with raisins, cashews, desiccated coconut or any other dry fruit of your choosing.

PREPARATION TIME: 5 minutes
COOKING TIME: 35-40 minutes
SERVINGS: 4
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Medium

INGREDIENTS: 

  1. Full Cream Milk – 1 litre
  2. Brown sugar – 3/4 cup
  3. Rice – 1/4 cup or less
  4. Saffron – 5-6 strands
  5. Cardamom – 2 pods
  6. Almonds  – 5, for garnish

RECIPE:

  1. Soak rice in water and keep aside for 5-10 minutes.
  2. Take a heavy bottom pan and add milk and allow it to boil.
  3. Turn the milk on simmer and add the soaked rice to the pan. I mash the rice slightly with a spoon to break the grains.
  4. Keep stirring the milk and rice mix every 5-7 minutes to ensure uniform cooking
  5. Once the rice fluffs up and is cooked properly and the mix has thickened, add the palm sugar.
  6. Mix the saffron strands in a tablespoon of milk and add them to the pudding.
  7. Crush the seeds of 2 cardamoms and add to the pudding as well.
  8. Add the pudding into a bowl, garnish with almond flakes and serve hot.
  9. You can also let this cool and serve this cold.

Do you like this hot or cold. Would love to hear your preferences.