The lightness of Kesariya Phirnee

Pushpesh Pant

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Milk, rice and sugar come to tickle our sweet tooth in myriad mouth-watering avatar. The recipes for kheer, payasam, payosh are legion. Some enriched with khoya and mewa and at times fruit or vegetable are so ‘heavy’, indulging in more than a spoonful breaks our back with guilt. However, lighter than a wisp of air, now-it’s-there, now-it-is-not phirnee remains our all-time favourite.

However, of late, not many have stayed faithful to the classic recipe. The poor thing has suffered greatly due to ‘exoticisation’. We have even encountered kiwi and strawberry versions, but let that pass. Traditionally, phirnee is served cold, in clay cups and after you have tasted its bliss, you don’t miss frozen desserts in hot summer days at all.

Not long ago, Ambareen, our young colleague at the Law School, treated us to more than a large spoonful of homemade phirnee sans frills and made us realise what the commercial eateries have lost. The recipe may appear deceptively easy, but it does require skill honed by practice to ‘lighten’ this Indian dessert enough to stun those who taste it!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Milk 1 litre

Cream 100 ml

Rice 1 tbsp (long grain, picked, washed and soaked in water for ½ hour)

Green cardamom seeds (from 2 pods)

Saffron a few strands (soaked in kewra water)

Sugar 1-2 tsp

Pistachios/Almonds 2-3 (slivered; optional)

Method

Grind rice grains to a smooth paste. Boil milk with cardamom seeds in a thick bottomed pan on medium low heat stirring constantly till it reduces to 1/3 of its original volume. Add rice paste and continue to cook on low heat, stirring intermittently for another 5-7 minutes. Remove from stove and allow it to cool. Stir in sugar along with the cream. Sprinkle saffron strands and slivered nuts if you like them. Place it in a glass bowl or in a large shallow clay pot and serve chilled.