Birthday celebrations with Zafrani Kheer


(Belated)Happy Birthday, DelhiBelle!
5 days back, this blog of mine quietly turned one, and true to my track record, I am late with my own blog's birthday post! However, one interesting observation is that this will be my 53rd post, which means that I have posted at the rate of exactly a recipe a week. Not as bad as I thought,what say?
To celebrate, let’s take a walk down memory lane with a delicious reminder of long forgotten days, when simple was beautiful, mangoes were to be had only in summer and vacations meant the grandparent’s farmhouse, not Spain!
Make and enjoy this sweet, decadent pleasure, on a leisurely weekend, the way it was made in the good old days. Put away the pressure cooker, skip the condensed milk, bring out your best, heavy bottomed pot and get down to making kheer, the traditional way. The resulting labour of love will not only be superior tasting, but will also be much more satisfying to make.
The inputs

5 cups (1 litre) of whole milk
1/4th cup (4 tbsp) rice
1/3rd cup (around 5 to 6 tbsp) of sugar
1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter (use unsalted butter if you cannot find ghee)
Flavourings:
½ tsp saffron strands, soaked in one tbsp of milk
¼ tsp cardamom seeds, crushed
Garnishes:
Toasted, slivered pistachios, almonds & cashews

The process
Heat the ghee on medium heat and toast the rice until it smells nice and slightly nutty (takes only about a minute or two). Slowly add the milk and bring to a boil. Now, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and stir occasionally to ensure milk does not stick or burn, till it is reduced to almost half its original volume( approximately 25 to 30 minutes). At this point, add the sugar, cardamom, soaked saffron & raisins if using, let it cook for a few more minutes till the sugar completely dissolves. Check for sweetness, bearing in mind that cooling will considerably blunt the sugariness. Bring down to room temperature, or cool in a refrigerator, sprinkle with the toasted nuts and serve.
















If you're feeling fancy (I was!), decorate it with some silver varq. This makes it look really festive.
The output
This is how it looks after a few hours in the refrigerator, which is how I like it best.
Fun & modern Twists
Flavouring:
Rosewater, Kewra (Screwpine), Cinnamon, Vanilla
Garnish: Strawberries, mangoes, oranges, cranberries, raisins
Regional variations and cousins :Kheeri, Payesh, Phirni, Payasam, Bhat Payasa

Kheer Trivia
Did you know that in the Jagannath Temple in Puri, nearly 800 cooks make kheer using a 2000 year old recipe, as Prasad for almost 10,000 devotees each day!

Delhi’s arguably best known kheer can be sampled for all of Rs.12 (S$0.40) at Bade Mian’s kheer shop in Hauz Qazi, Old Delhi

34 comments:

  1. Happy first blog birthday sweetie, looking forward to say hi to you here for many more yrs! :))

    Saffron Kheer with Warq looks fabulous, so yummy. Now I want to go to Jaganath temple just to eat! ;D

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  2. happy birthday Delhi Belle! GORGEOUS kheer..my blog turns 1 next month too!

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  3. Congratulations on completing a year DB and here's to many more. What a beautiful kheer to celebrate this special day - this type of kheer is my favorite.

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  4. Well belated wishes form us too, well we will forgiveyou for forgetting as you made this delicious kheer.

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  5. Happy Birthday to your blog! kheer looks lip smacking and pretty.

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  6. Happy Birthday to your blog .. lovely kheer out there ..

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  7. Happy Birthday to your blog :) The kheer really looks delicious!

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  8. Happy Birthday to u! happy Birthday to U!!

    That kheer looks awesome with the silver things (we don't get those here)..

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  9. Happy Birthday!! Loved your pictures & step by step instrctions too. Yummy!!

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  10. happy birthday to your blog!! the zafrani kheer suits the occassion well :)

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  11. Congratulations Rashmi, a good milestone. Wishes for more to come. The kheer looks fantastic. Loved the first picture.

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  12. did u get the varq in singapore? step by step, i love!! :)

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  13. Asha: So do I
    Ranjani: Great..we need a b'day video then
    Laavanya: My favourite too
    Happy Cook:You're a darling :)
    Mahima, Deesha, Valarmathi, Meeso: Thank you girls!
    Soma: they can make anything look festive, don't they?
    Meera, Superchef, Redchillies: Thanks:)
    Nags: Good ol' mustafa!

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  14. Happy blog borthday to you! I love this kheer, but take the easier way to make it ;). Your pictures are making me drool.

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  15. Happy blog birthday! Kheer looks yum and rich :)

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  16. Hi DB,
    Thanks for ur visit n comment at my blog, hope to c u more often. I wonder how I missed ur blog all these days :) it's very beautiful and recipes are superbly presented..am new to blogging...n there's so so much to learn n improvise :)
    The zafrani kheer looks celestial :)presentation makes it very tempting to spoon it into the mouth right away...lol
    TC

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  17. OH! forgot :)
    Happy first blog b'day! hoping to see many more beautifully presented recipes from u.
    God Bless!
    TC

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  18. Looks delicious!! Thanks for that slow and steady step by step recipe - must have been worth all the effort!
    Happy Blog Birthday too.

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  19. B'day wishes to DB ... the bestest blog in blogosphere for me. :-)
    I don't like kheer ... but that snap tempts me to dig in a finger and lick it smack clean. ;-)

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  20. Lovely presentation! Congratulations on completing the milestone. Looking forward to many more delicious recipes here in the coming years. Wish you luck!

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  21. Happy Birthday girl! Always always happy to see your posts. The kheer looks marvelous. I sometimes (a very rare sometimes) make it this way in my crockpot. It simmers for hours and ends up like a cross between kheer and rabri.

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  22. Happy birthday to Delhi Belle,and congratulations to you,for making this possible :-)
    The kheer looks awesome and though i do not have a sweet tooth,but somehow kesar and varq fascinate me and tempts me to taste it.This looks really really superb
    Loved the small traditional small plates with an antique look :-)

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  23. Happy Blogversary DelhiBelle. You are a pleasure to visit :)

    The Kheer looks so grand and I loved the katori and the cutlery

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  24. Hey Belated birthday wishes :) The kheer looks like just the right thing to celebrate with!

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  25. Love, love your pics :) And congrats!

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  26. Belated Happy Birthday!!! Kheer really looks delicious.

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  27. Wow, Looks like basundhi. Pls let me know whether it tastes like bassundhi. Happy Birthday to Delhi Belle! Great blog. First time here, Let us share our recipes and let our journey of cooking begins.

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  28. Congratulations on your blog birthday! What an awesome presentation! Totally gorgeous looking kheer!

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  29. Am having your guvar with besan. Also added some potatoes, very different from my usual beans sabzi and loved it. But why did you say it was bitter ?

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  30. Happy Birthday Delhi Belle...Kheer looks yummm...

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  31. happy Birthday, Delhibelle..many many ...happy returns of the day.....Love your kheer..looks so royal with silver foil.........

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  32. happy birthday. that kheer definitely looks worth the effort.

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  33. Happy blogiversary! That kheer is so enticing.

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