The day has come again. Exactly on this date just 3 years back I have created my food-blog www.firsttimercook.com. This is my second child which turns 3 years old today 😊😊 So some celebration must be here. And for that type of occasion particularly we Indians make kheer at least in our homes which is the integral part of any celebration. Well, kheer is an Indian version of rice pudding made by slowly cooking rice in milk with addition of generous amount of nuts and some fragrant ingredients like saffron, cardamom, rose water etc. This can be sweetened with sugar or even jaggery. This pudding dessert is completely egg free.
These days there are a no. of variation in having this sweet dessert where the main ingredient is being varried and results into kheers like gajar kheer, millet kheer, dalia (broken wheat) kheer, pasta kheer, modak kheer, orange kheer, makhana kheer, besan kheer, chhena kheer and lots more. Today's post is rice kheer from Odia cuisine aka Chaula Khiri / payesh for the celebration. Traditional method follows to cook the rice in the milk while boiling. But one can separately cook the rice, then add into the boiled milk and again cook both further to incorporate well. This way, the preparation time is bit less as compared to the traditional one.
At my place, the Caramelization part is added at the starting of boiling the milk. Means in a heavy bottom pan, the sugar is caramelized with ghee and then milk is poured cautiously into that. Also the rice which I am here following to cook in pressure cooker separately is first fried for 1-2 minutes in ghee. This results into no sticky rice after pressure cooking and the cooked rice can get easily mixed with the boiling milk without creating much lumps. So this is a kind of kheer where the rice is being fried to use in kheer. The kheer here is also fully gluten free dessert. With the addition of fried nuts and the freshly grounded cardamom the kheer has a flavorsome taste and looks super delicious.
Recipe Card for 'Chaula Khiri | Odia Rice Pudding' :

Chaula Khiri / Odia Rice Pudding
much deliciously flavorsome pudding using rice from Odia cuisine
prep time: 15 Mcook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 H & 15 M
ingredients:
- Short grain rice (jasmine / basmati) 1/2 cup
- Milk (full fat) 1.5 lt
- Sugar 1 cup + 2 tsp
- Ghee 2.5 tbsp
- Bay leaf 1 no.
- Cashew
- Raisin
- Almond
- Cardamom 4-5 no.
- Salt 1 pinch
- Water
instructions:
How to cook Chaula Khiri / Odia Rice Pudding
- Wash and clean the rice with regular water.
- In a bowl soak the rice with some water for 15-20 minutes.
- Take a heavy bottom deep pan and heat 1/2 tbsp ghee in it.
- Add 2 tsp sugar and start caramelizing over low heat.
- Immediately pour the milk cautiously and give a nice stir.
- Allow to boil over low heat stirring in between.
- Meanwhile in a pressure cooker, heat 1 tbsp ghee.
- Add bay leaf along with soaked and drained rice.
- Using a spatula, mix everything.
- Fry till 1-2 minutes over low heat.
- Then pour 1 cup water, mix well and close the lid of the pressure cooker.
- Cook till the rice is well done.
- Turn off heat and allow the pressure to release automatically.
- Then mash the cooked rice slightly and add into the boiled milk.
- Mix everything well and allow to cook again for 30-35 minutes over low heat, stirring and scrapping the sides of the pan in between. Otherwise kheer will stick to the bottom and burnt.
- In a separate pan, fry the dry fruits in 1 tbsp ghee. Keep aside.
- When the khiri / kheer turns little thick, add sugar along with a pinch of salt, freshly crushed cardamoms and fried dry fruits.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes till sugar melts.
- Turn off heat and keep aside the kheer to cool down to the room temperature.
- Serve as it is or cold !
NOTES:
Caramelization part impacts a beautiful color to the chaula khiri. So i always recommend not to skip that step.
Frying the rice in ghee results into no sticky rice after pressure cooking.
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Kheer looks so delicious and I like the idea of caramelizing sugar before adding milk and rice. congratulations on completing 3 years of wonderful blogging!!Wishing you many more to come!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Swaty !!!!
DeleteIncredible and so authentic recipe, Sasmita. I love the way you have explained the caramelization.
ReplyDeleteit lends a lovely flavor to the kheer actually :)
DeleteCongratulations on the completion of 3 years of your blog. The kheer just looks amazing, i love the way you explained the recipe.
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much !
DeleteChaula khi looks so creamy and delicious. The method of making this kheer is so different from the normal kheer recipes. Burnt sugar must be giving the kheer a caramelized taste.
ReplyDeleteyes di, its kind different from other type of kheer. The sugar is not burnt actually, just it has to be caramelized before adding the milk into it :)
DeleteThe kheer looks very yummy. Congratulations for completing 3 years of blogging.
ReplyDeleteI love rice kheer and keep making it quite often. This one sounds so unique and loved the caramalisation part in the beginning.
thank you so much ! do try and let me know how it comes out :)
DeleteMany congratulations on completing 3 years of blogging journey.... yes this occasion needs celebration and what could be better than a kheer recipe to celebrate the achievement....
ReplyDeletethank you Amrita !
DeleteThe kheer looks really good. Congrats for the third year of blog anniversary. I have never caramelised the sugar while making the kheer. Will definitely try this out
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much ! Glad you like to try this odia version :)
DeleteKheer looks scrumptious! the caramalized sugar must add a lovely taste to the kheer, cooking rice with bay leaf for kheer is totally new to me, would love to try this next time i make rice kheer!
ReplyDeleteAhaa do share with me Priya after trying :) Thank you for taking interest in this kheer .
DeleteThe kheer looks so delicious, it is one of the favourites at home. Congrats on your blogversary Sasmita
ReplyDeleteThank you Jaya !
DeleteThank you jaya !
DeleteOh I can imagine the caramelized sugar taste in this kheer, must be divine. Kheer looks so delicious.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely it is that much divine taste and during the preparation, the room just fills with the aromatic flavor of this kheer
DeleteI love trying dishes from different cuisine. This Odia style rice pudding looks rich and creamy.
ReplyDeleteOMG I am sooo drooling here. When I saw this post, I was wondering how different is this odia rice pudding from the usual one. And it surely is. Loved tha caramelising part also. Definitely trying this for navaratri. Thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on turning 3. It is a great milestone. As for the khiri it sure is delicious and apt for the celebration.
ReplyDelete