Kheer
“Kheer doesn’t rush. It teaches. It fills the bowl and the soul.”
Kheer
Kheer is a creamy Indian rice pudding slowly simmered in milk with sugar, cardamom, and sometimes a trace of saffron or rose. It’s as much a ritual as it is a recipe—served in temples, offered during festivals, and passed around family tables as both comfort and celebration. Soft, sacred, and quietly powerful, kheer is the taste of time well spent and love well given.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup basmati rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 4 pods green cardamom, slightly crushed
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 3 cup 1/2 and 1/2 or 3 cans carnation milk
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
- A pinch of saffron, infused in 2 tablespoons of boiling water – optional
- Cashews for garnishing – optional
How The Alchemy Happens
Rinse the rice until the water becomes clear.
Then soak the rice in a large quantity of cold water for 30 minutes.
Drain the rice using a strainer and set aside.
Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the ghee, then add rice, cinnamon stick and cardamom.
Stir for 2 minutes.
Add the water and cook for about 2o minutes on medium heat. Stir constantly.
Add milk, saffron, nutmeg and cinnamon powder.
, the saffron pistils and their infusion, and mix well.
Set the heat to medium-high, then, as soon as it starts to boil again, lower the heat and leave the kheer to cook over a low heat for about 25 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so.
The milk will reduce considerably after 25 minutes and the kheer will be thick. For an even thicker kheer, cook an additional 10 to 15 minutes at this stage. The kheer will continue to thicken as it cools.
“This is not fast food. This is ancestral patience, stirred until it turns to gold.”