Coconut Milk Kheer
A coconut-milk take on Bengali rice pudding — basmati rice simmered low and slow with cardamom until it collapses into the liquid, finished with saffron, raisins and chopped pistachios.
About this dish
Kheer is one of the oldest dessert formats on the subcontinent, built on nothing more than rice, milk and time, and versions of it appear in temple offerings across Bengal going back centuries. Coconut milk in place of dairy milk isn't a modern invention so much as a quiet regional habit — in households that keep coconut milk on hand anyway, it slides into the pot just as naturally and gives the kheer a faintly sweet, rounder backdrop than dairy does.
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Lactose-free
Ingredients
- 100gBasmati rice
- 800mlFull-fat coconut milk
- 4piecesGreen cardamom pods
- 90gCaster sugar
- 1gSaffron threads
- 30gRaisins
- 20gPistachios
Instructions
Rinse the rice and simmer it gently in the coconut milk with the cardamom pods, stirring now and then.
20 minTip: Low heat from the start — coconut milk scorches on the bottom of the pan far more readily than dairy milk does, and a scorched pan ruins the whole pot.
Keep simmering, stirring more frequently as it thickens, until the rice grains have mostly broken down.
15 minTip: The pudding will look thinner than you want it right up until the last few minutes — it thickens hard and fast right at the end, so don't panic and crank the heat.
Stir in the sugar and saffron and cook a few minutes more, until the sugar has fully dissolved.
5 minTip: Saffron needs a minute of gentle heat to actually release its colour and scent — added too late, it just floats on top looking decorative.
Take off the heat, stir in the raisins and chopped pistachios, and serve warm or chilled.
5 minTip: Kheer firms up considerably as it cools, so loosen it with a splash more coconut milk if serving it cold the next day.