Festive occasion or not, rice kheer it is!

Rice kheer occupies pride of place on the menus when it's a special occasion at home. But if the recipe is simple enough, you can make it whenever you want.

It's an old classic that never fails to bring a smile to your face. Whether it's hot weather or pouring with rain, whether you're ill or just back from work, you always welcome a bowl of rice kheer. Unassuming but packed with loads of flavour, the rice kheer recipe is adopted by households across India for a sweet delight during happy occasions.

Rice kheer - a sweet treat for the ages

The rice kheer recipe remains the same across communities, using rice, milk, sugar, dry fruits and strands of saffron as garnish. However, you can choose to make it as simple or as richly decadent as you want. Through the ages, rice kheer has been prepared across households as a sign of festive celebration, or to distribute to friends and relatives during festivals. In the days of kings and queens, it would be prepared in royal kitchens to commemorate the birth of a royal prince, or to celebrate the joyous homecoming of a victorious king.

Even today, the rice kheer is equated with celebration and joyous tidings. But because it is quite simple to make and requires few ingredients, it can be prepared as often as you like. Many people prepare it about once a fortnight, just as a sweet accompaniment to the rest of the food. For most people, the rice kheer is a throwback to happy days of childhood, when it would be prepared on birthdays and other days of revelry.

What you need to know about making rice kheer

• The rice is uncooked but washed and soaked for at least one hour before cooking. This softens it a little and makes it amenable to absorbing the goodness of milk and sugar while cooking.
• The rice is immersed in the milk and cooked over a low flame for about 10 to 15 minutes. This softens the rice, after which it becomes puffy and absorbent. If you want to use leftover rice, you can cook it for about five minutes in milk.
• The sugar is added after the rice has become soft and puffy, and not before.
• The rice kheer recipe calls for dry fruits like almonds, pistachios and cashews for a rich and heady flavour. For a modern twist on the classic rice kheer recipe, you can add chunks of raw fruit like chikoo, mango and pineapple to the kheer when it is halfway cooked. The milk soaks up the fruit flavour for a yummy dimension.
• For a rich, thick texture, substitute sugar with a tin of Milkmaid condensed milk to one litre of milk and about 50 gm of rice - this rice kheer recipe will make you go 'Wow!'