Phirni - Rice Pudding

Phirni is a rice pudding made with full cream milk, almonds , pistachios and ground basmati rice. It is easy to make and tastes creamy and delicious and very very light.

 

 

Preparation time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 Minutes

Total Time : 50 minutes

 

Yield : 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 Cup Basmati Rice
• 1 Litre Full Cream Milk
• 1/2 Cup Sugar ( Add more sugar if required )
• 1/2 Teaspoon Green Cardamom Powder
• 8 Strands of Saffron / Kesar ( soak in 2 tablespoon of warm Milk)
• 20 Almonds ( blanched )
• 20 Pistachios ( blanched)
• 1 Tablespoon  chironji/ charoli ( I had a cup full of Chironji and raisins left over from the Sheer Khorma I made for Eid. And I used it for garnish here. You can skip adding Chironji)
• 1 Tablespoon Raisins ( optional)

Preparation :

 

Blanch Almonds : 

1. In a microwave safe mug heat 1 cup of water on high for 4 minutes

2. Add 20 almonds to the hot water in the mug. Let them rest in the water for 10 minutes

3. Take a almond out from the hot water and try to pinch / rub it between your fingers. If the skin comes off easily, your almonds are ready. Otherwise, let them remain in the hot water for 5 more minutes

4. Remove skin of all the almonds. Sliver them lengthwise into thin pieces.

5. Transfer the chopped almonds to a kitchen towel and let them dry for 2 to 3 hours or overnight. You can blanch the almonds the previous day and store it in air tight container when they are dry

 

Blanch Pistachios :

Follow the above posted steps, blanch and sliver pistachios and dry them overnight

 

Blanch chironji :

1. In a microwave safe mug heat 1 cup of water on high for 4 minutes

2. Add Chironji to the hot water in the mug. Let them rest in the water for 10 minutes

3. Drain water completely and transfer the chironji to a kitchen towel. Bring the edges of the kitchen towel together and gently rub the kitchen towel over the chironji. This will loosen the skin of Chironji.

4. Now transfer them to a bowl of water and rub them gently. Skin of the Chironji will float on the top. Fish out the skin. Drain water and spread Chironji on a kitchen towel and dry overnight

 

Directions to make Phirni :

 

1. Rinse Basmati rice couple of times in a colander under running water. Soak the rice for 20 minutes. Drain completely

2. Grind the drained basmati rice in a food processor / mixie into fine paste. I used 2 tablespoons of milk while grinding. Grind it to the consistency of fine Sooji / Rava. Set aside

 

 

3. In a heavy bottomed pot bring milk to boil. Simmer and let the milk boil on lowest flame setting till it reduces to 3/4 of its original volume

4. Lower the flame and add the ground rice paste in steady stream into the milk stirring continuously with other hand. It is important to stir the mixture while you are adding rice to the milk otherwise you will end up with lumps in the milk and it will be difficult to bread all those lumps

5. Next add sugar and give it a nice stir. Now increase the flame to medium and cook the rice in milk for 5 to 7 minutes

6. When the rice is almost cooked, add half of the blanched almonds, pistachios, chironji and cardamom powder and stir it

7. Cook the rice for 2 more minutes and switch off the flame

8. Serving : Pour the phirni in to the serving bowls. Once cooled, refrigerate the serving bowls for 2 hours or until chilled

9. Serve chilled. Garnish with remaining almonds and pistachios while serving phirni