Thursday, February 11, 2010

Phirni

Phirni is a creamy rice pudding from the Northern region of India. The addition of rose water gives that seductive floral aroma to the dish. 
For this Valentine's Day, instead of chocolate, how about the surprising your Valentine with healthy aromatic phirni in front of fire?



I like to serve phirni in Japanese pottery dishes from my collection. Garnishing is very important to any dish. What could be more appropriate than garnishing with a rose petal for Valentine's day?



Serves 6
• ½ cup long grain rice
• ¼ cup water
• 6 cups whole milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon green cardamom seed
powder
• 1 teaspoon rose water
• ½ cup coarsely chopped roasted
nuts such as slivered almonds and
pistachio nuts
• pistachio nuts and rose petals for
garnishing

Soak rice in two cups of water for 3 - 4 hours. Drain the rice and transfer to the blender along with 1/4 cup of water and grind into fine paste. Mix rice paste with milk in a medium saucepan. Boil over medium to medium high heat for about 15 minutes while stirring often, until it becomes creamy. Add sugar and cook for another 7 - 8 minutes while stirring often. Mix in cardamom powder and essence. Stir in the chopped nuts. Transfer them to individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap. Cool in the refrigerator. Just before serving, garnish with pistachio nuts and rose petals.
For more memorable recipes, tablescapes, and entertaining ideas, please check out my book, Entertaining From an Ethnic Indian Kitchen, at my website komalinunna.com.  
Please check out Foodie Friday.

9 comments:

  1. Oh my - this sounds WONDERFUL! I love pistachios, cardamom, rose water, rice pudding... heaven!

    Lovely presentation as well!

    :)
    ButterYum

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  2. Wow! What a neat recipe, and I love your little dishes. They are as cute as can be. Where on earth did you find them? They really are precious.

    Thanks so much for sharing this interesting recipe.

    Happy Foodie Friday and Valentine's Day...

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

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  3. AWESOME!!! I love this recipe, it's different and interesting. I love your little dishes you serve this GREAT!!! dish in.

    Geri

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  4. Oh, how lovely! These are Japanese dishes? They are delightful. They remind me of cream pots. So very nice!

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  5. Love the recipe and I have completely fallen for your japanese pottery collection.I am definitely going to look for one for myself.I think I am in a botanical mood these days.And lovely pictures also.I really love the way your blog is coming along ... I am addict in the making here.Its sure getting to be fun flipping over here and checking out what Komali is doing today... :)

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  6. Oh I can just imagine the aromas that would fill the air while this is cooking and they would be heavenly!

    Those little dishes are stunning, I would love to find a set of those. How very special they are and perfect for this recipe.

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  7. Sounds wonderful!! Wish I had been blogging in February and found this. my husband would have loved it. I am officially going to follow you now...love your blog!

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  8. Just lovely! Those little eggplants? Are darling!

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  9. This rice pudding sounds like something deliciously perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe. Your photos are beautiful, as are the sweet little Japanese pottery dishes. I love seeing special little treats for the table! I'm going to order a copy of your book. It intrigues me! Thanks for sharing. I came over from Jain's Food with Style. You definitely have STYLE.

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