Indian Spiced Rice Pudding

Spiced Indian Rice Pudding... its a thing of sheer beauty

When your husband comes home from work three nights in a row and stares at the stove and says "I want some kheer" you eventually get the idea that you should make kheer.  What is kheer?  Its basically rice pudding, but with an Indian twist.  It has two spices in it: saffron and cardamom.  These give it an exotic flair, but if you want plain rice pudding you can easily leave these out and the traditional version of the dessert.

Now I have generally never been a huge fan of kheer, but I seem to be surrounded by men who love it.  I have memories of my brother when we were kids; Daffy would come home from school and make kheer himself because he just liked it that much.  That shows that its (1) pretty good and (2) easy to make.

I have never made kheer before, but I figured I should give it a go since it was requested several times and the hubby is not one to usually request sweets (other than fondue... there is always a standing request for fondue with pound cake).  We have an old Indian cookbook that we stole borrowed from my mother in law.  I know my hubby checked out recipes in there are few times, but I decided to go to the internet for the one and saw that there were a billion recipes out there.

So I decided to do what any good cook would do and I frankensteined a few of them together to make my own.  Who knows, maybe one day Scrunches will make this for her kids and say, "this is my mom's recipe for rice pudding and it is all things good," and then they will make it for their kids and so on.  Okay the thought of grand kids just made me lightheaded. So how about we start cooking?

Indian Spiced Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• 4 cups WHOLE milk (you may not need all of this and it MUST be whole milk)
• 4 pods cardamom
• 1 pinch saffron
• 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon golden raisins
• 1 1/2 tablespoon slivered almonds
• 1 1/2 tablespoon chopped pistachios

Directions:

Before you begin cooking, it is important to wash the rice.  I was always taught to add plenty of water and stir the rice around with my fingers three times to get all the extra starch out.  You can just do this until the water is clear... which incidentally usually ends up being about three times.

I need a manicure.  Ignore my ugly hands.  But pay attention to washing the rice.

In a heavy saucepan mix together rice and 2 cups of the milk over medium heat.  Add saffron and cardamom pods and allow to cook, stirring constantly.  It is important to keep stirring to be sure that the milk does not scorch on the bottom of the pan.

Saffron is the world's most expensive spice, but it is definitely worth having around.  The best varieties come from Spain, but I picked up an amazing batch of it when I was in Morocco.

The saffron gives the rice a nice yellow color and an amazing smell.

Allow rice to cook completely.  The milk will be nearly gone when the rice is cooked.  Add more milk, by 1/2 cup increments, and allow rice to continue to cook until the milk is absorbed and the rice is soft.  This may not require all of the milk.

Allow the mixture to cook until it thickens.  Note that the mixture will thicken more upon cooling, so you may not want to let it get too thick.  However there is no right or wrong as far as consistency (as long as the rice is cooked!), so let it thicken to your heart's content.

Pistachios and almonds... mmm....

Once the mixture has thickened, add in the sugar and mix well.  Remove from the heat and mix in the raisins and nuts.  This can be served warm or cold.

Enjoy!

Source: Tort(e) original recipe