Indian Rice Pudding

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

• 1.1 litres/2 pints whole milk
• 2 tbsp long-grain rice
• 4 whole green cardamom
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 10 unsalted pistachios
• To decorate
• vark (edible silver or gold leaf, available from specialist cake shops or some Asian grocers, optional)
• extra pistachios

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

1. Lightly crush the cardamom pods with the side of a knife, then soak the rice in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes and drain it well.

2. Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed pan and bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring often so it does not catch on the bottom.

3. Add the drained rice and crushed cardamom to the boiling milk. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for about 60 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until the rice is very soft and the milk has thickened.

4. Stir in the sugar and simmer for another 15 minutes, until the kheer is creamy and coats the back of a spoon.

5. Roughly chop the 10 pistachios and stir them into the kheer. Remove the cardamom pods, then let it cool for about 15 minutes.

6. Chop the extra pistachios finely. Spoon the kheer into serving bowls, scatter the chopped extra pistachios over the top, and chill until cold.

7. If using, add the vark to the top of each bowl just before serving. The vark is optional.