In India, Kheer is made on every festive occasion and also on leisurely days when you want fuss-free recipes that can be rustled up with minimum ingredients. Kheer is perhaps one of the most ancient sweet dishes that is even recommended by Ayurveda for good health and has unending modern-day versions from apple kheer, sewaiyan, sabudana kheer, matar kheer, poha kheer to paneer kheer. (Also read: 3 delicious laddoo recipes to make)
Kheer lovers can relish this mouth-watering dessert at any time of the day – in breakfast with pooris, as a snack or dessert post dinner or lunch. Festival time is here with Ganesh Chaturthi and Onam, and will continue as Navratri, Dussehra, and Diwali are just round the corner. So, why not add some Kheer recipes in our festive food list and enjoy them with friends and family in those memorable get-togethers.
Here are 4 kheer recipes to make your festive season extra special.
1. COCONUT KHEER
(Recipe by Dietician Garima Goyal)
Ingredients
Milk- 1 litre
Grated coconut- 1 cup
Cardamom powder – 2 teaspoon
Sugar
Chopped almonds, pistachios, cashew nuts- 1tablespoon
Saffron strands
Method
• Take a few saffron strands and soak them in warm milk.
• Now take a heating pan and pour the rest of the milk. Heat it on medium flame and keep on stirring.
• In the next step, add 1 cup of freshly grated coconut into the milk. Stir the mixture until it comes to a boil.
• Let the mixture cook for at least 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the coconut so that it is not cooked too much or burnt.
• Finally, add all the other ingredients. Add 3-4 tablespoons of sugar or as your taste requires. Keep on adding the chopped dry fruits, and cardamom powder.
• Stir the mixture well and on medium heat, keep it cooking for another 7-10 minutes.
• For the final step, sprinkle some of the chopped almond flakes on top of the kheer.
2. MATAR KI KHEER
(Recipe by Swapandeep Mukherjee, Head Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa)
Ingredients
Desi ghee – 75 gm
Finely chopped pistachio – 10 gm
Chopped cashewnuts – 15 gm
Chopped almonds – 15 gm
Chopped raisins – 20 gm
Milk – 750 ml
Green peas coarse puree – 120 gm
Sugar – 80 gm
Cardamom powder – 5 gm
Khoya danedar – 75 gm
Method:
• Heat ghee in a pan, add finely chopped pistachios, cashewnuts, almonds, raisins and sauté
• Add milk to the pan and reduce by half
• Now heat desi ghee in a different pan, when warm, add the green peas puree and cook for 5-6 minutes
• Add pea puree to the milk mixture. Add sugar and cook on a slow flame for 5-6 minutes. Now add cardamom powder
• Serve hot/cold kheer in a bowl and garnish it with the chopped and dry fruits
3. RAJGIRA KHEER
(Recipe by Swapandeep Mukherjee, Head Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa)
Ingredients
Amaranth Seeds (Rajgira) – 500 gm
Milk – 1500 ml
Sugar – 200 gm
Almond chopped – 50 gm
Cashew nuts, chopped – 50 gm
Raisins – 20 gm
Cardamom Powder – 5 gm
Pistachios, chopped, to garnish
Method
• Heat pan on low flame with 2-3 tablespoons of rajgira at a time. As rajrira pops up, remove the popped seeds on a plate
4. CLASSIC SABUDANA KHEER
(Recipe by Dietician Garima Goyal)
Ingredients
Sabudana- 1 cup
Cashew nuts
Almonds
Milk -500 ml
Sugar- 4-5 tablespoons
Cardamom powder- 1-2 teaspoons
Salt
Method
• Take 1 cup of sabudana and wash them thoroughly to remove any dirt.
• Chop 5-6 cashew nuts and 5-6 almonds finely. You can soak them into water for some time to make them softer.
• Meanwhile, keep the washed sabudana or white pearls aside for two hours.
• Now, take a heating pan and pour 500 ml milk into that pan.
• Heat it for some time until it comes to a boil. When the milk starts boiling, add the sabudana into the hot milk.
• Now add the sugar into the mixture and keep on stirring.
• Finally, add on the chopped almonds and cashew nuts and give the entire mixture a good stir.
• Sprinkle a pinch of salt and mix again.
• At last, for garnishing, dust some cardamom powder on top of the mixture and your classic sabudana kheer is ready to be relished.
• When all the seeds are popped, boil milk in a heavy bottomed pan
• Once the milk is boiled, add popped rajgira and stir occasionally, on medium heat. Cook it further for about 10 minutes or till rajgira is cooked
• When cooked, add chopped nuts, raisins, cardamom powder and put it on simmer for about 5 minutes. Switch off the gas, garnish with nuts and serve hot.