Phirni
Phirni is an Indian dessert filled with the heady scents of rose, cardamom and almond. Rohit's version is completely vegan, making the most of oat milk and cream to cook the rice in. Deliciously comforting and absolutely full of fragrant flavour.
This recipe is taken from Tarkari: Vegetarian and Vegan Indian Dishes with Heart and Soul by Rohit Ghai (Kyle Books, £25). Photography by Maja Smend.
Rohit says: 'Phirni is a pretty similar dessert to kheer, the major difference being that for phirni we use coarse or ground rice but for kheer we use whole rice. I make this dairy-free by using oat milk and cream. In India, phirni is traditionally served chilled in earthenware pots.'
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
- 50g of basmati rice
- 1l oat milk
- 100g of oat cream
- 1 pinch of saffron
- 150g of caster sugar
- 50g of raisins, ideally green raisins (available in Asian supermarkets)
- 2 tbsp of flaked almonds, plus extra to garnish
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp rosewater
- rose petals, to garnish
Method
Rinse the rice a couple of times in water, then drain and dry with kitchen paper. Blend the dried grains coarsely in a food processor or blender. Set aside
- 50g of basmati rice
Heat the oat milk and cream in a heavy-based pan. When the milk starts to get warm, take 1 tablespoon and place it in a small bowl with the saffron, then set aside to infuse. Let the rest of the milk reach boiling point, then lower the heat and add the ground rice. Stir and add the sugar, then cook over a medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes, uncovered. Keep stirring at regular intervals so that no lumps form and the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan
When the rice is almost cooked, add the raisins, almonds, cardamom and the saffron-infused milk. Stir and cook for another 5-6 minutes. Once the phirni is ready, add the rosewater
- 50g of raisins, ideally green raisins (available in Asian supermarkets)
- 2 tbsp of flaked almonds, plus extra to garnish
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp rosewater
Serve warm or chilled, garnished with almonds and rose petals
- rose petals, to garnish
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