Nutty Kheer

I named it as Nutty Kheer because it contains all the essential nuts that is used in Indian cooking, almonds, pistachios, cashew nut and chironji. If you have never heard about Chironji before, they are tiny seeds or nuts from a bush called Buchanania lanzan. They are used in Indian cooking for making curries or desserts. They look like lentils but have a flavor of almonds. It is called “Sara Paruppu” in tamil.

This easy and flavorful dessert kheer can be made in advance which saves a lot of time when you have a party or a get-together in your house. If you do not have condensed milk, you can double the volume of milk, reduce it to half or 3/4th and add sugar followed by the nuts. I made this for serving my guests during Navratri and it is a hit.

Preparation time: 45 minutes (excluding soaking time)

Cooking time: 30 minutes

No. of servings: 12 to 14

Ingredients:

• Whole milk – 6 cups
• Condensed milk – 1 can
• Almonds – 20
• Pistachios – 10
• Sara paruppu (Chironji) – 1 tbsp
• Cashew nut – 8
• A pinch of saffron
• Cardamom pods – 4 to 5

Method of Preparation:

1. Soak almonds, pistachios and chironji (sara paruppu) separately in water overnight or in hot water for 2 hours.
2. Soak cashew nut for an hour in 1/4 cup of milk.
3. Peel the skin of almonds and pistachios and chironji. Do not mix them yet.
4. Bring milk to a boil over medium heat stirring in between.
5. Add condensed milk little at a time stirring continuously. After emptying 3/4 th of the can, check for the amount of sweetness and add more if you want. I added the whole can.
6. In between, grind almonds, pistachios and cashew nut (with milk) together to form a coarse paste. Add more milk if required.
7. When milk starts bubbling add saffron. When the color changes add the ground nuts along with chironji.
8. Reduce heat to low and let it boil for 5 to 6 minutes and then remove from heat.
9. Let the temperature come down and then transfer it to another container and refrigerate it overnight or at least 4 hours before serving.
10. Kheer is ready to serve.