The 20-Minute Table
77

Fifteen-Minute Cardamom Kheer

One Pan Indian Serves 43 prep · 15 cook Vegetarian 18min

A pouch of cooked rice, pulsed short and simmered in milk, gets you to kheer in fifteen minutes on the hob instead of an hour of stirring.

Why it works

Kheer takes its time because raw grains must soften and then release starch into cold milk. Breaking up already-cooked rice makes that starch available from the first minute, and dates blended through the milk both sweeten it and thicken it, doing the work that long evaporation would otherwise do.

Method

  1. Pulse the rice four or five times in a food processor, or squeeze it hard in your fist, until the grains are broken but nowhere near a paste.
  2. Warm 3 tbsp of the milk in a wide saucepan, crumble in the saffron and take it off the heat for a minute to bloom to deep orange.
  3. Add the remaining milk, the rice, dates, cardamom and salt. Bring to a bare simmer and cook for 14 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes and scraping the base. It is ready when it drops thickly from the spoon and coats it — stop while it still looks loose, as it sets further off the heat.
  4. Stir in the rose water, if using, along with half the nuts.
  5. Divide between four small bowls and scatter with the rest of the nuts. Eat warm, or make it earlier and serve it cold and set.

For the toddler

Kheer suits them well: it is milk, rice and dates, with no added sugar at all. Take a small bowlful out at the end of step 3, before the rose water and the nuts go in, and let it cool to barely warm. Slivered pistachios and flaked almonds are a choking risk under five, so grind a few to a powder and dust them over, or leave them off. Two spoonfuls is a portion.

How the toddler notes work

Chef’s notes

Swap

Broken vermicelli in place of the rice makes seviyan, and needs only 8 minutes. Oat milk works, though the set is softer.

Make it faster

Skip the saffron and stir a pinch of turmeric in with the cardamom for colour alone.

On the side

Very little — a small cup of masala chai, or orange segments to cut across the richness.

Leftovers

Keeps 3 days chilled and firms to a spoonable set. Loosen with cold milk before serving.