Diwali Recipe: Kheer

As much as Diwali is a festival of lights, it is also a festival of sweets. There are so many amazing sweet dishes made in celebration of Diwali. Here we present one of them, Kheer, an Indian rice pudding.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1/2 cup basmati rice, washed and drained
4-5 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon rose water (optional but worth it)
1/4 cup almonds (blanched and slivered)
Pinch of saffron threads, soaked in a little hot milk
1/4 cup skinned pistachio nuts (chopped)
1/4 cup raisins
3-4 tbsp sugar

Instructions:
Put the rice, milk and cardamom in a saucepan. Bring to boil and then turn down the heat and simmer gently until the rice is soft and the grains are starting to break up (approximately 60 minutes).

Add the almonds, pistachio, saffron and raisins and simmer for a few minutes. Add the sugar and stir gently until completely dissolved. Stir in the rose water. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with a little crushed pistachio.

Serve warm or chilled.

Adapted from Activity Village

Notes and Modifications:
I am always trying to get as much healthy stuff into my kids at every meal, since they can be picky eaters. To make this dish even healthier for my toddler and preschooler, I added a little flaxseed. Coconut milk could be used for 2 cups of the regular milk (1/2 coconut and 1/2 regular) and this could easily be made dairy free as well (dairy free may require the addition of an egg yolk in the simmering phase for added thickness). I debated whether I could mix in a little pureed veggie of some type (cauliflower? squash?) but didn’t want to chance it.

Do you have any great Diwali dishes? We always love to try more recipes. Please leave any recipe ideas in the comments section!

Photo courtesy: Rishabh Mathur, Creative Commons