No Indian celebration is complete without kheer. This simple sweet dish can be made with rice, ragi, sago, lentils, vermicelli and even semolina. It is prepared by slow cooking the grains or lentils in sweetened milk and then garnished with nuts.
This healthy version of rice kheer uses brown rice and jaggery, instead of sugar. Brown rice is rich in fibre and is a good source of manganese and selenium. Jaggery is rich in iron and is definitely a better choice than sugar. This is a vegan version of kheer made by replacing dairy with coconut or almond milk.
Ingredients
- Brown rice – 2½ tbsp
- Jaggery – ⅓ cup
- Coconut or almond milk – 2 cups
- Cashew nuts, pistachio, almonds –1 tbsp each, roasted and chopped
- A pinch of ground cardamom powder
Preparation method
- Grind brown rice coarsely like rava and soak it in ¼ cup of water for 1 hour. Cook brown rice until soft.
- Dissolve jaggery in little water and filter it to remove impurities.
- Combine milk and cooked rice in a pan and cook on low flame, keep stirring to avoid curdling. Do not boil the milk.
- Add jaggery water, cardamom powder, mix well and switch off the flame.
- Garnish with nuts and serve either warm or cold.
Note: Jaggery water should be at room temperature.
Spot an error in this article? A typo maybe? Or an incorrect source? Let us know!