Kheer (Pakistani Rice Pudding)

About This Recipe

Kheer is the dessert at every Pakistani celebration: a slow-cooked rice pudding made by simmering basmati rice in milk for over an hour until the grains break down and the milk reduces to a creamy, fragrant nectar. Finished with cardamom, saffron, rose water and slivered almonds and pistachios, it is best served chilled. Every grandmother has her secret — the Pakistani version is typically richer than its Indian cousin, with more nuts and a deeper rose note.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 1.5 Lfull-fat milk
• 60 gbasmati rice(rinsed and soaked 30 min)
• 150 gsugar(or to taste)
• 100 mlevaporated milk(optional, for richness)
• 1 pinchsaffron(soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk)
• 6 podsgreen cardamom(crushed)
• 1 tbsprose water
• 30 galmonds(slivered)
• 30 gpistachios(slivered)
• 20 graisins
• 1 pinchsalt

Instructions

1. 1

   Bring milk to boil

   Pour milk into a wide, heavy-bottomed pot. Add cardamom and a pinch of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer on low heat.

2. 2

   Add rice

   Drain soaked rice and add to milk. Simmer on lowest heat 50 min, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent sticking. Rice will break down and milk will reduce by half.

3. 3

   Sweeten and enrich

   Add sugar and evaporated milk if using. Cook 15 more min until thickened to desired consistency — it thickens further on cooling.

4. 4

   Aromatic finish

   Stir in saffron-milk, rose water and most of the nuts and raisins (reserve some for garnish).

5. 5

   Cool

   Pour into bowls. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate 2 hours minimum.

6. 6

   Serve

   Garnish with reserved nuts, a pinch of saffron and a few pomegranate seeds if available. Serve chilled.

Variations

• •

  Vermicelli kheer (sheer khurma): substitute rice with 100g toasted vermicelli, cook 25 min — Eid favourite

• •

  Shahi tukda kheer: layer with sugar-soaked fried bread

• •

  Vegan: use full-fat coconut milk + condensed coconut milk

Storage

Refrigerate up to 5 days. Loosen with cold milk if too thick.

Frequently Asked Questions