Almond Firni

Firni is one of the easiest desserts to prepare when you are desperately craving something sweet and want something homemade. The main components are milk and rice; unlike its cousin the Kheer, in a Firni the rice is ground. Below is the recipe for Almond Firni which makes about 4 generous servings. If you do not have Almonds handy, they can be substituted with Pistaschios or even rose water for the nut averse.

Ingredients:
1/3 gallon Milk
10 whole unsalted Almonds
1/2 cup Basmati Rice
4 pods of Cardamom
3 tbs Jaggery
10 golden raisins
1 tbsp Ghee (optional)

Soak the Almonds and golden Raisins in warm water, separately and set aside. Rinse the rice in water until the water runs clear, soak in water and set aside for about 20 min. Simulatenously boil the milk in a thick bottomed pan. When the milk comes to a boil, reduce flame and let it continue to simmer. The milk should reduce and thicen. Add the jaggery to the milk and stir until it dissolves. In a blender blitz the drained rice, soaked almonds and peeled cardamom pods (only the seeds) to a coarse paste. Add this paste to the simmering milk and continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes until the rice cooks.

You can either add the soaked raisins along with the rice-almond paste or optionally you can fry them in a table spoon of ghee and add them to the milk misture.

This dessert can be eaten warm but tastes even better when chilled for a couple of hours.