Rice kheer is a delectable dish with a rich and a creamy texture that one can never resist. No big work involved in making this, also, it requires just three ingredients. Can a dessert recipe be much simpler than this?
I actually wanted to make and post rice kheer recipe on Tamil new year’s day. But, unfortunately I was not able to get full cream milk on that day. (The reason being so obvious!) I so badly wanted to have rice kheer that I somehow got full cream milk and made it within a week itself and I was waiting for the perfect day to share it with you all. But then, when I thought about it, I realized why we should have this delicious dessert only on a special occasion?! Everyday is a special day and we have to enjoy it with something special and I finally decided to post the recipe.
I became a huge fan of rice kheer only in my early teenage. Until then, even I didn’t like it that much. We had a neighbor who used to make these amazing rice kheer and mysore pak and when I had them for the first time (I was obviously very reluctant to have it ), I immediately fell in love with it. And from that time onwards whenever she makes these two desserts she would always give me some too!
Even though she makes it a point to give me some too whenever she prepares, there was one very big disadvantage. You want what that was?! – I cannot ask her to prepare it whenever I want! And It was for this reason that I finally decided to learn the recipe so that I can tell my mom and make her prepare it for me whenever I wanted too. (A point to be noted is that, even then I didn’t prepare it by myself!:p)
So, I went and learnt the recipe, wrote it down too and then I gave it to my mom and told her to prepare it the very next day itself. Thinking about it, I miss those days where I can tell my mom what I want and she prepares it for me. Now, even if I want something then I have to prepare it all by myself. Even though the taste is the same, nothing can beat the feeling of being pampered by your mother, right?!
Anyways, coming back to our story, the rice kheer turned out to be just like what my neighbor used to prepare! I was so worried about the result that I finally breathed a sigh of relief! And, that recipe is what I am going to share now. The difference between this and the normal rice kheer is that, in this version, we do not add anything for flavoring (like cardamom, nuts, rose water, etc). Though I did add some saffron strands because of my liking towars it in the recent days.:p
You can add anything in the mentioned list above to flavor your rice kheer. Now, you may ask me why I have topped my kheer with nuts in the photos? Well, it’s a tricky question. I anted it to be extremely appetizing. You know, we usually get addicted a lot to pictures. Also, having this as a reason, I thought why not give it a try with some nuts topped on it? I did try, but to be honest I like the kheer as is without any nuts.
According to me, the smell and taste of boiling the milk for a longer time alone is enough to attract you more than the pictures. You can serve the rice kheer warm or chilled – completely left to your preference. So, do try the recipe once and let me know in the comments below. Enjoy it with your family! Happy cooking and eating!
While you are here, do checkout my other Indian dessert recipe too!
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Rice Kheer
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup raw rice
- 1 liter full cream milk
- 1.5 liters water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- a few saffron strands, optional
Instructions
- To a tall and wide vessel add 1 liter milk and 1.5 liters water and bring it to a boil.
- In a bowl wash and drain the rice and set it aside until further use.
- When the milk comes to a boil, simmer the flame and add the rice. Let the rice and the milk boil in a low flame for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the rice or the milk solids from settling at the bottom.
- After 30 minutes, the milk would have reduced by half in quantity. Now add the sugar and stir it.
- Let it simmer again for 15 more minutes. Add the saffron strands, turn off the flame and cover it with a lid. Let it rest until it becomes warm.
- Serve rice kheer warm or chilled.
Notes
- Use a larger vessel, preferably tall, to avoid the milk from over-flowing.
- You can also pressure cook the rice separately and add it to the milk after it has reduced well.
- You can also add raw, washed rice toasted in some ghee to the milk.
- The amount of sugar added is as per taste.
- Use whole milk for the creamy texture.
- Stir the milk in between at intervals to ensure that the milk solids don’t settle at the bottom and burn.
- While simmering the milk, since we stir it often, the milk solids might float on the milk. This kind of looks like curdled milk. Do not worry, it is just the milk solids floating.
- Along with the saffron strands, you can add crushed cardamom or cardamom powder, nuts or even rose water at the end to flavor the rice kheer. This is completely optional.
- You can also garnish it with some chopped nuts (like almonds, pistachios, etc) while serving.
