UP Chawal Ki Kheer Simple Everyday Rice Pudding

Method

1. 1

   Bring milk to a boil: Pour 1.2 litres full-fat milk into a heavy, wide pot. Add bay leaves. Bring to a full boil on medium-high heat while stirring to prevent scorching.

2. 2

   Add the rice: Add the washed basmati rice to the boiling milk. Stir immediately.

3. 3

   Reduce to medium heat: Cook on medium heat, stirring every 3 to 4 minutes, for 35 to 40 minutes. The milk reduces and the rice cooks gradually — both processes simultaneously thicken the kheer.

4. 4

   Scrape the sides: Every 10 minutes scrape the milk solids from the pot sides back into the milk.

5. 5

   The rice should dissolve: After 35 minutes, the rice grains should be fully cooked and swollen. Many will have begun to dissolve into the milk, thickening it.

6. 6

   Remove bay leaves: Discard the bay leaves.

7. 7

   Add sugar: Add sugar. Stir until dissolved.

8. 8

   Add saffron if using: Add saffron. The kheer turns pale golden.

9. 9

   Add cardamom, cashews and raisins: Add cardamom powder, fried cashews and raisins. Stir.

10. 10

    Serve warm or cold: UP kheer is served warm from the pot at most home celebrations and cold from the refrigerator as a dessert. Both are correct.

11. 11

    Note: Chawal Ki Kheer (chawal = rice, kheer = milk preparation) is the universal sweet of the Hindi-speaking belt — offered to deities at temples from Vrindavan to Varanasi, cooked at every celebration from birth to death rites, and served at every hospital bedside as the prescribed recovery food. The simplicity of the preparation — milk, rice, sugar, cardamom — reflects the accessibility that has made it the baseline sweet across all social classes. UP produces a significant portion of India's milk supply through the UP dairy cooperative network.