What is better than eating a bowl of kheer as your dessert made by your mom? Trust me, that taste is irreplaceable! Kheer or payasam is a type of pudding that is famous in the Indian subcontinent. Start it by boiling milk with sugar and rice. It generally gets a flavor of desiccated coconut, cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios, and almonds. This kheer is served as a dessert. I have never been fond of cooking, but I would learn to cook for this kheer.
Let us now learn how to cook. Starting with the ingredients:
● 2-3 cups of milk
● 2 cups of basmati rice or any other of your choice
● 2-4 cups of sugar according to your taste
● 1 cup desiccated coconut
● Few cardamoms
● A bowl full of various nuts
● Few threads of saffron
● 2-3 teaspoons of butter(ghee).
Now, let us move towards the recipe-
● Rinse the rice until the water becomes clear. Then soak the rice in water for around 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, drain the rice using a colander and keep it aside.
● Heat a large-based pan on a medium flame. Add a teaspoon of ghee to it and, then add the drained rice. Moreover, add up four smushed green cardamom pods.
● Toss the rice with ghee and cardamom for 2 minutes. Stir it constantly. You can smell a sweet aroma once the kheer starts to cook.
● Now, add the milk to the pan and stir it well. Set the heat to medium-high flame.
● Let the milk boil. It will take around 15 minutes. Keep stirring in between so that the milk does not stick to the base of the pan.
● Once the milk is boiling, lower the heat to low. Let the kheer cook for 25 minutes on a small flame. Stir it again for every 2 minutes or so.
● The milk will reduce gradually after 25 minutes and the kheer will start to thicken. The rice gets cooked fully. (In case you want a super thick kheer, cook it for 15 more minutes).
● Add in the sugar and mix well. Also, add in the nuts.
● Cook the kheer for 5 minutes after adding in the sugar and nuts. So the sugar dissolves fully.
You can get various flavors of the ingredients you added:
● Cardamom: Not gonna deny that it is the most common and personally my favorite.
● Rosewater: A sprinkle of rose water helps in giving the kheer a floral tang!
● Saffron: You can use a few strands to decorate your kheer and, it also gives a rich taste.
● Dry-Fruits: Honestly, what’s a kheer without nuts? I mostly add cashews, almonds, raisins, and pistachios.
● Kewra Essence: It is an extract distilled from pandanus flowers and used to flavor various Indian dishes and desserts. I add it sometimes but it is completely optional.
In the end, garnish it with more nuts and saffron on the top. You can present the kheer hot or cold. Umm, people prefer it warm while I like it cold! So it’s your choice! 😉
Last Updated on August 26, 2021
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