These days I feel like the time should stop and the next week should never come. The thought of family leaving is making me really sad. Ever since we shifted into our new house, everyone has been there and now suddenly I will be all alone after hubby goes to office. I know i’ll get busy because the house needs so much work plus there’s always my blog to keep me busy. But it was so wonderful to have family by my side for the last 1 month and now that they are leaving, I just want the time to stop. Wishful thinking!
This is Indian style rice pudding but made with almond milk in stead of regular milk. Kheer, as we call rice pudding in India is one of the most popular homemade sweets back home. I remember as a kid whenever I asked mom to make something sweet, she would always make kheer. I think there are 2 reasons for this – 1) kheer or Indian rice pudding is delicious 2) it’s easy to make with readily available ingredients. And so it was obvious why mom made this for us more often than any other sweet. I bet every Indian has grown up eating homemade kheer and has wonderful memories associated with it.
Ingredients
1/4 cup basmati rice
32 oz pack of Almond Breeze Almond Milk Original
5-6 tablespoons granulated white sugar or to taste
5-6 green cardamom pods seeds taken out & crushed
1 tablespoons golden raisins
3/4 teaspoon ghee clarified butter
2 cloves
few saffron strands
sliced almonds to garnish
chopped mango to garnish
Method* Wash basmati rice and soak it in enough water for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
* In a pan heat ghee (clarified butter) on medium heat and add 2 cloves to it.
* Once the ghee is hot, add the soaked rice to the pan.
* Cook for 2-3 minutes or till the rice starts to turn light pinkish in color . Remove from flame and set aside. [Note: Skip this step if vegan]
* In a pan, heat almond milk. Bring it to a boil.
* Add rice to it and mix.
* Lower the heat to medium and cook the rice with the almond milk, stirring at regular intervals.We want the pudding to be thick and rice thoroughly cooked. This process takes around 20-25 minutes.
* After around 25 minutes, the pudding will thicken. Add crushed cardamom seeds and mix.
* Also add saffron strands, raisins and mix.
* Switch off the flame, and after 2 minutes add the sugar and mix till well combined.
* Pour the almond milk rice pudding into serving glasses/bowls and top with chopped mango and sliced almonds.
* Chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours before serving.