Rice Kheer - Indian Rice Pudding

Wash the rice thoroughly in chilled water for about 5 minutes and soak them in enough water for at least 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, soak the saffron strands in tbsp of milk and chop the dry fruits/nuts and keep them aside to be used later. Adding the nuts is completely optional, you can skip it if you want.

After the soaking time is over, drain the water from rice and again wash them in clean water for about a minute.

Now in a heavy bottom pan, add milk and on a medium flame bring it to a boil.

Once it starts boiling, add rice and stir well and simmer it on a low to medium flame for about 20-25 minutes or till the rice is tender and cooked perfectly. Do stir it occasionally, usually every 5 minutes and make sure that either the ri

For checking whether rice is cooked or not, pinch the rice grain, it will mash very quickly and when you take a spoonful of it and pour it back in the pan, the rice and milk will stay separate.

Now add sugar and mix well.

Add saffron and milk mixture, cardamom powder and half of the nuts and mix well and let it simmer for 7-8 minutes. Remaining nuts can be used for garnishing.

For checking the right consistency of kheer, take a ladleful of it and pour it back into the pan. This time, the rice and milk should not separate like earlier and they should fall together in the same flow.

Once you get this consistency you can switch off the flame.

Kheer is ready to serve. It can be served warm or you can let it cool down completely and keep in fridge to get it chilled. Some people prefer chilled and some prefer it hot straight from the pan.