Basmati rice simmers in milk infused with saffron and cardamom, filling the whole home with its distinct aroma. My mom is making kheer, a kind of dessert just like rice pudding and infrequently ready for festivals. As a toddler in a small city of Madhya Pradesh, India, this scent and dish is inextricably linked to Diwali, one of many largest Indian festivals. Even nonetheless as we speak it jogs my memory of this vacation.
The identify Diwali or Deepawali interprets to “row of lights.” The five-day competition marks the victory of fine over evil, information over ignorance, and lightweight over darkness. It falls in October or November, relying on the Hindu calendar, when individuals will gentle small oil-filled earthen diyas, or lamps, exterior their properties to represent the interior gentle and embellish their properties with garlands fabricated from golden-hued marigolds, a flower related to the solar. All through these 5 days individuals come collectively to make feasts that includes dahi wada, or lentil dumplings, served with flavored yogurt, deep-fried noodles known as sev, and kheer.
Meals is an integral a part of festivals in India, and sweets, or mithais, maintain a particular place as a result of they’re believed to deliver pleasure and good luck. Indian traditions embody many cultures, every with its personal distinct sweets speciality. Which means there’s often a dizzying array of choices at festivals like Diwali.
Puddling-style kheer is simple to make and one of the frequent special-occasion sweets, to not point out my private favourite.
A flexible dish, kheer can specific the tradition, historical past, and tastes of its maker. To the baseline canvas of milk, sugar, and dry fruits, you possibly can add any spices, grains, fruits, or different components. Need veggies in your kheer? Add stewed pumpkin or carrots. A custard kheer would possibly embrace contemporary fruit like mangoes, peaches, bananas, or apples. Grains span rice or vermicelli, or you may make a gluten-free model with ragi vermicelli. The choices are seemingly infinite.
I prefer to make mine with rice, chopped nuts, and rose petals. Rice kheer jogs my memory of fine meals, household, the sunshine of earthen lamps crammed with oil, and the perfume of purple and yellow marigolds. It jogs my memory of Diwali.
Rice Kheer Recipe
Serves 4
Elements:
• ½ cup basmati rice
• 2 tablespoons clarified butter or ghee, divided
• 5 cups entire milk
• 3–4 tablespoons sugar, relying on how candy you like your desserts
• ½ teaspoon floor cardamom
• 1 teaspoon raisins
• 1 teaspoon cashews
• 1 teaspoon almonds, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped pistachios, roughly chopped
• A handful of rose petals
Instructions:
1. Rinse the rice in a colander and soak in a bowl of room temperature water for 10 minutes. Drain.
2. Put one teaspoon of clarified butter or ghee in a non-stick pan over medium warmth. Add rice and prepare dinner, stirring always, for quarter-hour. Take away from warmth, put the cooked rice in a bowl, and wipe out the pan.
3. Warmth one other teaspoon of clarified butter or ghee in the identical pan, soften over medium warmth, and add cashew and raisins. Prepare dinner till golden brown, after which switch them to the bowl.
4. In the identical pan, pour in milk over medium warmth and stir always till the milk involves a boil. Then, add rice. Stir and prepare dinner till it’s gentle however not chewy, roughly 5-7 minutes.
5. Cut back warmth to low, and stir in sugar, the softened cashews and raisins, and cardamom powder. Prepare dinner, stirring, for two–3 minutes.
6. Take away from warmth and funky to room temperature, then switch to a serving bowl and retailer within the fridge till chilled, 1–2 hours. Its consistency will thicken.
7. If you’re able to serve, garnish the kheer with rose petals, crushed pistachio and almonds.
Aishwarya Gupta is an search engine optimization specialist at Thrillist who will graciously write about kheer and Diwali, amongst different matters.
