Kheer (Rice Pudding)
I forgot how much I love a creamy, sloshy rice pudding.
It’s the sort of thing I make semi-regularly, but never with a recipe; I resurrect leftover cooked long grain rice, or use short grain if I make it from the beginning, but it’s always thick and diner-style, and I’m usually the only one to eat it. I forgot how delicious a runny rice pudding is when it’s ice cold; like melted ice cream, sweet and rice-flavoured, and in this case spiked with cardamom. It’s fantastic. The recipe comes from Noorbanu Nimji and Karen Anderson, a couple of gems who just released a new cookbook – A Spicy Touch – the theme of our cookbook club (Bite Club!) the other night. It was hot, approaching 30 in the afternoon, and something in the back of my mind reminded me that cold rice pudding spiked with cardamom would be a very good idea. Of course they had a recipe for it.
I wound up mucking about with it only because I had the better part of a litre of half & half in the fridge that needed using – something I always have on hand, unlike whole milk – and I decided to go with the full can of sweetened condensed milk and not open one of evaporated milk. Also, I had no pistachios, but it was completely divine with just cardamom and almonds. (Sliced, broken up a little more, are easier on the teeth than slivered almonds – and they more closely resemble the finely shaved whole almonds Mrs. Nimji uses, cut by hand with a small almond slicer – sort of like a cross between scissors and a nutcracker. I had never seen one before.
(Mrs. Nimji is 83, and lives about five minutes from me – her first self-published cookbook has sold over 250,000 copies since 1974, and remains a staple in Canadian Ismaili kitchens.)
The sweetened condensed milk provided just the right level of sweet – and a better flavour, I think, than straight-up sugar. If you have saffron in your cupboard, you could add a pinch too. Just make sure it’s very cold – especially if it’s hot outside.
Kheer (Rice Pudding)
AuthorJulie
Rinse the rice well and combine it in a saucepan with the water. Cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is soft and mushy.
Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often to prevent it from burning. Stir in the condensed milk and cardamom. Stir in half the almonds (and pistachios, if you're using them) and simmer a few minutes more, then pour into a bowl, chill until ice-cold (or not, this is just how I like it), and garnish with the remaining almonds. Serves 6ish.
Ingredients
Directions
Rinse the rice well and combine it in a saucepan with the water. Cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is soft and mushy.
Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often to prevent it from burning. Stir in the condensed milk and cardamom. Stir in half the almonds (and pistachios, if you're using them) and simmer a few minutes more, then pour into a bowl, chill until ice-cold (or not, this is just how I like it), and garnish with the remaining almonds. Serves 6ish.
Mmm this sounds heavenly!
We have rice pudding in Norway too, and we always have it for the national Norway day as a rich and filling, this version looks lovely 😀 x
Made this yesterday. Waaay!! too sweet almost inedible. Should it really be one whole can of condensed milk?
One more taste , then it goes down the drain.
Wow, so sorry to hear it! I found it perfect, and I don’t like an overly sweet rice pudding. Yes, the original calls for 1 cup of condensed milk… a full can is 300 mL, so only 50 mL (about 3 Tbsp) more, so I just added the whole thing. Shouldn’t make a huge difference.. but perhaps the extra milk would dilute it a bit more? Anyway, sorry you didn’t enjoy it!
The original recipe has 3 cups of water, 5 cups whole milk, 1 cup of condensed milk and ½ cup of evaporated milk so it is less sweet. Julie’s pudding did not taste overly sweet at all. Maybe it just didn’t suit Meta 4’s palate?
Julie, I thought your pudding was lovely and I ate the leftovers for breakfast the next day. It was rich, creamy and full of flavour.
Thanks for making it and for featuring our A Spicy Touch cookbook on your blog.
You’re a generous and supportive friend.
Cheers to you and all you do.
Karen Anderson (A Spicy Touch Co-Author)
No worries…I LOVE everything else you post Julie.
🙂