Kheer - Rice pudding

Rice pudding is an easy classic Indian dessert and it surprises me that there is plenty of potential to make a disaster out of this fairly simple recipe. Sugar, rice, milk - how can you go wrong. Well you can. It is all about texture and the right amount of sweetness. You want it rich, creamy, and not overpoweringly sweet. I actually made it yesterday for a group of friends. My mother would take hours to make her kheer; she would thicken the milk for ages. Needless to say it was out of this world. I took an hour and didn’t even pay much attention to it till the very last stages. Of course I cheat a little here and there. But I was more focused on the other dishes, while keeping an eye on the kheer. It was like one of those kids you don't pay much attention to, but they turn out fairly all right on their own.

Chill it over night or for two days. Cold creamy kheer cures my blues.

Level of difficulty - Medium but time consuming


Ingredients

1 cup of rice
1/2 gallon of whole milk
1 14 oz tin of sweetened condensed milk ( use only 3/4 of the tin)
1 Tablespoon of ghee
5-6 cardomons
1/2 cup of almond slivers
1/2 cup of pieces of roasted unsalted cashewnuts

Instructions

1. Use a large wok or a dutch oven. Add the rice to two cups of water and cook it till done.
2. When the rice is done, coat it with the ghee and add half of the milk to the pot.
3. Th flame should be on medium high and keep an eye on the pot. If the milk froths too much beat it down with a wooden spatula.
4. When the milk in the pot is reduced to half, add the rest of the milk.
5. Reduce the milk to half once again. Look out for the color. It should be turning into a shade of cream by now.
5. Add the condensed milk. I prefer 3/4 of the tin, you may add the entire tin if you like your dessert extra sweet. Reduce the flame to low.
6. Now you have to watch the baby. Keep running your spatula at the bottom of the pot so that the rice does not burn. Keep scraping the condensed milk at the sides of the pot so that the testure of your kheer is even creamier.Do this for approximately 10-15 minutes.Turn off the flame.
7. Add the cardomom seeds after crushing them with a pestle. Add the cashews and half of the almonds.
8. Garnish with the remaining almond slivers and refrigerate overnight.
Serves 6.