Hi everyone and welcome back to Tasting My Heritage! This is a special site post because it will be my last post. Although I’ve had so much fun creating new foods and trying different recipes that my parents made for me growing up, all good things must come to an end. I’ve enjoyed my time on this site so much. This site was created as a part of my social media practicum class, as I am an undergraduate college student. I started this site because it has always been an idea of mine to create almost a digital recipe book of my parents recipes. Their recipes are a part of my childhood and my life now and I wanted to know how to make their foods either just as good or even better. With this site, I experimented with new foods that they’ve never made before or I just stuck with food that they always made. As I’ve mentioned on this site before, my mom is from Jamaica and my dad is from Pakistan. Their foods are very different but also so similar. It’s been nice to really challenge myself and create a hobby for myself as I’ve navigated this new skill. I hope in the future I can continue at least posting on my Instagram. In that case, you can follow me on Instagram @TastingMyHeritage.
I want to thank every single one of you that have been there either since the beginning, if you’ve joined along the way, or if you’ve even just stopped by for a recipe or two, THANK YOU. Your support has encouraged me to continue with my posts and I’m thankful I could make such a niche idea into something that people could enjoy.
As I’ve said in my first post, Indian cuisine and Pakistani cuisine can be similar in some aspects as Pakistan came from India before they separated in 1947. This kheer could be labeled as “Indian rice pudding” for some people. It’s all made the same with some variations.
For this week’s post I’m going to be make kheer. This is a Pakistani dessert and it’s delicious and rich. Something that you could maybe compare it to would be rice pudding. It’s a super easy recipe to follow. It includes super basic ingredients and I like to add fruits on top as a garnish. Some people enjoy adding dried fruit on it, too!
All you’ll need to make this recipe is a stovetop and a pot. It’s important to note that you can eat your kheer hot or cold! It’s just personal preference! I like to enjoy mine hot or warm.
Ingredients:
- Whole milk (the thicker the milk the better and more creamier it will be)
- Basmati rice
- Ghee clarified butter (you can get this from any store; I get mine from Sam’s club)
- White sugar
- Brown sugar
- Four cardamom seeds, no shell (an essential in most sweet Pakistani recipes)
- Dried fruits for garnish
Step one: Rinse your basmati rice. I like to rinse mine a few times with warm water. This goes for making rice without it being kheer.
Step two: Soak your clean and rinsed rice in water for about 20 minutes. Once it’s soaked, drain it again and add it to your pot.
Step three: Your pot should be warm before you add your rice in. I put it on medium or high heat (in the middle if your stove has a setting like that).
Step four: Break your cardamom seeds and add the insides to your rice in the pot. Mix it around for a few minutes before moving on to the next step.
Step five: Add in your ghee clarified butter. Mix it around for another few minutes, turning the heat down on your stove.
Step six: Add your whole milk to the pot. Do just enough to really cover rice. I just eyeball this step. It’s also important to note that you can make this recipe with any kind of vegan milk as well! The same steps are applicable.
Step seven: Turn your stove to higher heat. Keep mixing and watching the kheer mixture. Let it boil, this should take about ten minutes or so. When you mix, make sure you really scrape the bottom of the pan so no milk gets stuck to the bottom.
Step eight: Once your kheer has boiled, you can turn the heat on your stove to low. Let it stay cooking on low for thirty minutes or so. The longer you cook it, the thicker it will get.
Step nine: Finally, add your sugar in. If you want it to taste richer, you can add in brown sugar and/or white sugar. I like doing both. Just do it to your taste level. From there, you can add your nuts or dried fruit. I like adding pistachios.
Step ten: Serve your kheer in a bowl and enjoy!