We are near to the end of Ramadan series in few days.Wondering how time has gone so fast. I thoroughly enjoyed hosting this series & hope you all must have enjoyed this journey with me.
Today we have a special guest Nupur from uk-Rasoi , who is sharing her experiences of Ramadan from her college days spent at Aligarh Muslim University - India.
She is sharing a very special recipe Malai Kheer. I love this kheer. It just melts in your mouth and always get praises when served in parties. Thanks a lot Nupur for sharing this delicious Kheer with us & specially taking me back in those beautiful memories of time spent with my ma in law.
Thank you Humi for giving me this opportunity to celebrate Ramadan with a new stream of readers. I am highly honoured and would like to wish you all “Ramadan Kareem” !
I have so many memories linked to Ramadan, having studied
from a Uni called Aligarh Muslim University I am already familiar and known to
the nitty-gritties of this month long celebration. I have attended so many of
the Iftaar parties in girls hostel and the special Eid dinner in the main
College Campus too. It was so much fun and joy, having under cooked sheermaal,
runny sheer, and stale Veg Biryani with almost no veggies. I now think of it and smile on all those
memories and would love to re-live them if life permits.
The best part of that Ramadan period was of course sweets. I
used to love those chilled puddings my friends’ Mums used to make for us. So
many different varieties, just on the name of Kheer. Some with egg, without
egg, with rice, semolina, vermicelli and some with Sabudana.
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This version of Kheer which I am going to present today, is one of those which was a bit on the luxury side and was called Malayi ki Kheer. My friend loved it, and so did I. Hence, when Humi asked me to bring in something for Ramadan, I instantly knew I had to make something from that lot. This Kheer uses half milk and half cream, instead of just milk and no condensed milk at all.
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Plus it
doesn't use rice, but Tapioca pearls and Vermicelli.I have used a hint of strawberry essence too in it, the color of which is not that visible since it was not pink in colour.
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Ingredients:
4 cups milk + 2 tbsp for soaking cashews
2 cups heavy cream ( you may use home-made Malayi as well )
½ cup vermicelli
½ cup Sago pearls
2 cups sugar
2 tsp strawberry Essence, or any other essence
1 tbsp ghee - to
roast vermicelli
½ cup cashews
Method:
Pre - Preparation:
# Soak Sago pearls for 4-5 hours in warm water, drain well and keep aside before starting with the cooking. You may wish to keep it soaked overnight depending on the quality of the pearls and the temperature in your region
# Soak Sago pearls for 4-5 hours in warm water, drain well and keep aside before starting with the cooking. You may wish to keep it soaked overnight depending on the quality of the pearls and the temperature in your region
- Heat ghee in a pan and roast vermicelli on low flame for about 4-5 minutes, it should just turn light brown and nothing more. Keep stirring it to avoid burning, keep aside once done
- Soak cashews in 2 tbsp milk for 1 hour and then grind it to a fine paste. Keep aside.
- Now heat milk in a big pan and bring it to the boil, add cream and sugar and simmer it just till sugar dissolves. This will take another 3-4 minutes.
- Now add cashew paste, roasted vermicelli and Sago pearl to it and cook on a low-medium flame till it swells up and get thick. This will take around 10-12 minutes.
- Just check the softness of both Sago and vermicelli and if its cooked, add the essence of your choice turn off the flame. If you cook any further, this will get very thick and you may have to add more milk to it.
- Serve hot or chilled, depending on your choice. It tastes delish in both forms J
Notes
- You may replace some of the milk with water, if it gets too thick
- Adding Essenceis purely upto you, it’s only for extra flavour and nothing else.
- You may add more nuts to it, I just like to keep it simple