Kesar Phirni - Creamy & Delectable
Creamy & delectable, Phirni is a popular finely ground rice pudding perfumed with saffron and cardamom. Consider it as rice custard pudding.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Milk
- 1 pinch Saffron use a good quality saffron for best result
- 60 gm Rice good quality Basmati rice
- ¾ Cup Milk low fat
- 1 ltr Milk full fat, can be swapped with coconut or almond milk
- ¼ to 1/3 cup Almond Meal Powdered Almonds, adjust to taste
- ½ cup Date Palm Jaggery scrapped OR Sugar (adjust to taste)
- ¼ to ½ tsp cardamom powder adjust amount to taste
- 2 tbsp Mixed Nuts finely chopped, of your choice, I use almonds and pistachio
Instructions
- Soak the saffron in two tablespoons of warm milk and set aside.
- Wash the rice no more than twice or thrice. Soak it for half an hour in plenty of water. Drain the rice and spread it over a kitchen towel or napkin to dry. You can dab the rice and then allow it to dry out completely (it took me approximately one and a half hour)
- Grind the rice till it attains semolina like consistency (add no water while grinding) Grind the rice in short pulses of a few second each and then stopping. Pulsing again and then stopping. Keep checking texture, between the pulses, till desired consistency of texture is attained. Set aside.
- In case your jaggery has impurities, transfer it to a small pan and add a tablespoon of water. Stir it continuously on low heat till it is completely dissolved. Switch off the heat and sieve the jaggery to get rid of any impurities or grit. Set aside.
- Transfer the milk to a heavy bottom pot. Bring it to a boil while stirring occasionally. (Keep stirring it if you are boiling it on high flame to prevent it from catching and burning at the bottom of the container)
- Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer till it reduces to three fourth the quantity. Stir in the saffron milk.
- Add three fourth cup of milk along with ground almonds to the ground rice and stir well. Add this to the simmering milk, stirring continuously. Keep cooking on low heat, stirring continuously till the phirni thickens but is of pouring consistency.
- It took me approximately ten minutes to reach the desired consistency. The time will vary depending on what kind of milk you are using. (the phirni will thicken further when it cools, so keep that in mind while checking the consistency)
- Remove from heat and keep stirring the pudding. Stir in the jaggery (if you are adding the jaggery dissolved in water, then you need to cook it for a couple of minutes) and immediately transfer the hot kheer to the prepared earthen pots
- Wash and soak the earthen pots in water for least ten to twelve hours and then dried out completely. OR serve in bowls of your choice. Sprinkle dried chopped nuts.
- Once the pudding is cool, keep the pudding in the refrigerator and chill for a couple of hours. Do not cover the pots with any cling wrap since we want that thick rich layer of pudding to form over the top of the pudding which is characteristic of phirni
- Once chilled, remove them from the refrigerator and serve immediately. This dessert is mostly served during summers or after a rich or spicy meal.
Notes
Note – The dessert is always served in individual portions.
Note – Serving the phirni in small and shallow earthern pots is highly recommended since that is the traditional way of serving it. Else you can serve it in small glass bowls, preferably shallow.
Nutrition
Calories: 131kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 3gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 11mgPotassium: 64mgFiber: 1gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 44IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 49mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
