Kesar Phirni #recipe

Phirni is a creamy Rice based Indian pudding often flavoured with cardamom, saffron or rose water. The Kesar Phirni recipe I am sharing today has been flavoured with saffron and cardamom. It has almost the same ingredients as a rice kheer, but there is some difference in the preparation process.

Whole grains of rice is used in making kheer but, for phirni, we need coarsely ground rice. Kheer can be served hot or cold, but phirni tastes best when served chilled.

I was introduced to this delicious sweet dish by a good friend when I was living in Dublin. For one of our get-togethers, my friend had prepared phirni and had flavoured it with rose water. I still remember how delicious it tasted. But, somehow I had never tried making phirni on my own. When I was looking for recipe ideas to work on this BM, I thought to try phirni. I even called her to learn how exactly she makes it. Although I wanted to make rose flavoured phirni, I dropped the idea as I didn't have rose water. So, I made this Kesar phirni instead.

Phirni almost has a custard-like consistency. Traditionally, it is served in earthenware (Sikora). Since I couldn't find them, I used my white ramekins to serve them. With a garnishing of almond slivers, chopped pistachios and strands of saffron, it looked like a perfect dessert to complete a meal. It is a great sweet dish to prepare for any festive occasion.

Let's now how I made this Kesar Phirni.

Ingredients

1-litre milk
1/4 cup basmati rice
1/4 cup sugar, adjust to taste
3-4 cardamom, finely powdered
10 strands of Kesar, soaked in milk and rubbed in a small pestle and mortar
Almond slivers, chopped pistachios and saffron strands to garnish

Process:

1. Wash and rinse the rice in water. Soak it in fresh water for half an hour. Drain off the water completely and spread the rice on a muslin cloth to pat them dry. Coarsely grind the rice in a blender jar. The ground rice will resemble regular semolina granules.

2. Meanwhile, in a non-stick pan add milk. Bring it to a boil and then turn the heat to medium or low. Keep boiling and stirring, till the milk is reduced to half. It will take about 15to 20 minutes.

3. Now add the cardamon and the coarsely ground rice. Stir and cook for another 10 minutes. The ground rice will get cooked and the milk will get creamier. Add the saffron paste and stir. Add sugar now and cook for another 5 minutes.

4. Take it off the gas and transfer it into another container. It will thicken further on cooling. In case it gets too thick, you can add some more milk. Let it cool completely and then keep in the fridge to chill.

5. Serve them chilled in individual bowls with a garnishing of almonds, pistachios and saffron.


Other Indian sweet dishes you might like.

Basundi
Kheer
Badam Kheer
Kalakand
Cardamom Kulfi

This sweet dish is my entry for BM#86 Week 2 Day #1 under the theme - 'Festivals/ Occasions'