Kheer (khir): an Indian rice pudding

All recipes copyright Anna Vaught.

An aromatic rice pudding from heaven.

The picture to the side is by Sara Materni at www.flickr.com Thank you. Note that you can make a rice pudding look exquisite with the addition of almonds and, as we have here, some rose buds.


I do love rice pudding. Actually, if I'd found out my husband was cheating on me with a pole dancer, I would choose a tin of Ambrosia rice pudding, eaten cold and straight out of the tin. To be eaten alone, as comfort food. But I digress. As far as I am aware, he isn't, so let's make this instead.

You need 65 grams of pudding rice (this could just work with other kinds of rice, but it seems counter-intuitive so I shan't bother with this today)
1 pint (oh -- 600 ml!!) of milk. Oh come on: full fat is only 3.8% fat.
Approximately 1 tablespoon of soft brown sugar
3 tablespoons of rosewater.

Put the first ingredients in a big pan, stir gently and then add two cinnamon quills (as in 'whole' cinnamon) or two of cassia, a small handful of green cardamons and the same of cloves. Now, my mum would have added sultanas and possibly pistachios, too. I'm not convinced.
Bring this all to the boil, as gently as possible, stirring all the while. Then turn it right down -- it's prone to stick-- and cook, stirring regularly for about an hour. Alternatively, you could put it in a low oven and leave it to cook for about two and a half hours. You will still need to stir it now and then.

You can serve this with clotted or double cream. I also like it with a drizzle (yeuch! I can't believe I said that) of melted chocolate. Make it look extra pretty and more celebratory with some orange and lemon zest. And do tell people that there are whole spices in there. Especially if you're feeding children.

As an alternative, try replacing the milk half with coconut milk -- but not 'lite.'

Now here's an image I enjoyed. Found at www.flick'r.com (thank you Madpai!), this is a paat -- a traditional wooden seat. Tied onto it, as you see, is a bunch of fresh rice. I will let the photographer explain, though: he says:

"The paat is a traditional wooden set. Traditionally people sat on the paat instead of the floow. This paat came to our family as a wedding gift from my grandfather's family. The style of the art is very typical of my father'sbirth village (Cuncolim in Goa). The paat in the picture is close to 70 years old. Navem on the paat is the new harvest for the year and is used to make payas (or rice pudding) on the day after Ganesh chaturi."