recipe of shakarkandi ki kheer : a rich creamy dessert with taste of roasted sweet potatoes

Shakarkandi (sweet potato) ki kheer is a recipe I don't cook much but whenever I do I make it a point to do it the way I like. Yes I don't eat desserts much but if a dessert has some character that has imprinted in my mind I keep reviving my memories at least every few years if not every season.

In the case of shakarkandi ki kheer it is the roasted flavour of the shakarkandi that I love and I found a trick many years ago to bring the roasted flavour to the kheer. It is simple and yet makes a world of difference from the regular shakarkandi ki kheer.

The shakarkandi ka halwa is not my favourite but shakarkandi ke roth I love since childhood. This kheer made of shakarkandi has been much preferred over shakarkandi wali rabdi which is a lighter rabdi, although I don't make desserts everyday. Sweet potato hash browns are my type.

Also I prefer desserts that don't use much sugar or use a bit of jaggery and preferably made with sweet fruits or sweet potatoes as in this case. If you reduce milk slowly the subtle sweetness is enough along with the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes in this shakarkandi ki kheer.

I suggest you try this recipe without using any sugar and see how the rich multilayered natural sweetness of the ingredients shines through in the absence of sugar. If we add sugar it overpowers the subtle sweetness of milk and sweet potato combined. If you feel like adding sugar you can always keep some thick syrup ready to be added in the last moment. I bet you wont need that if you really like the roasted flavour of the sweet potatoes..

ingredients 
(2-3 servings, depending on portion size)

one medium sized sweet potato (about 150 gm)
500 ml milk (full fat, I used 7% fat)
some chopped nuts for garnish

procedure 

Simmer the milk in a thick base pan till it reduces to about 200 ml.

Meanwhile, peel the sweet potato using the thin side of the grater. Place the grated sweet potatoes in another thick base pan, sprinkle with 1 tbsp water, cover and cook on very low heat for about 7-8 minutes or till you get a roasted sweet potato aroma.

You will find the grated sweet potato sticking to the bottom of pan and getting reddish brown, that is a desirable step of the recipe as it brings in the much desired flavour. This is the trick to get that roasted sweet potato flavour in the kheer, let it stick to the bottom of the pan in a controlled way and see how it makes a difference.

Take care to use a really small pan for such a small quantity as a large pan may alter the cooking time. Using cast iron or anodised Aluminium pan works better.

By the time the sweet potatoes are cooked and aromatic the milk will be reduced suitably, add the cooked sweet potato to the reduce milk and let it simmer for a couple of minutes together or till you get a desired consistency.

Chill and serve with chopped nuts on top. You will not need any sweetener in this recipe I promise.

Do let me know when you make this shakarkandi ki kheer, and whether you liked it.

I have seen even kids loving it without realising it is a dessert without sugar. The roasted flavour of the sweet potato is a great help in bringing out the natural sweetness of the ingredients.

Caramelisation of the natural sugars in food they say.

sheer brunj, birunj or biranji, the kheer that cooks without rice....

Have you heard of sheer brunj? Well, this is a variety of kheer but not just another kheer I would say.

We all love kheer or milky rice puddings as I would introduce it to anyone who hasn't known Indian food. Which is quite unlikely in this age as I remember a Thai friend 23 years ago knew about kheer and pulav and he was introduced to pakode and much more at my place. You would agree people pick up Indian food pretty quickly and want to learn cooking once they taste it.

No I am not talking about a complicated recipe of kheer that takes 2 hours to cook. Having said that, all true kheers are slow cooked to get that taste. Otherwise it is just doodh wale chawal or mewe wala doodh for us. We wont call it kheer if it is any lesser.

Sheer brunj is the queen of kheers I would say. Or so I have grown up believing. This used to be the one kheer to impress the impressionables and to brag about when it was cooked for family get togethers. And yes, most people used to pronounce it like biranj or biranji. I figured now that most people have forgotten this name, have stopped making such a kheer just because it feels heavy on the calories scale. But then brunj was always served in small quantities. I wont add up to the mystery of this recipe any more.

This recipe takes about an hour to cook for 4-6 servings, but you don't have to work for more than 10 minutes that is for chopping the nuts and roasting the makhane. The milk keeps reducing all this while.

ingredients...

whole milk (full fat/6%) 1 L
malai 2 tbsp or amul fresh cream 100 ml
2 cups of makhane (fox nut or Euryale ferox) 2 cups
almonds 1/3 cup
cashew nuts 1/3 cup
a few strands of saffron
sugar 1-2 tbsp (this kheer is very mildly sweetened, you can add sugar to taste)

procedure..

Pour milk in a heavy bottom pan and heat till it boils. Simmer on low so the milk starts getting reduced.

Place another thick bottomed pan on the other burner and tip in the makhane in it. Dry roast on low heat till they start getting pinkish in color and become crisp. You can add 2 tbsp of ghee to the makhanas so they would turn really aromatic and would make the brunj rich. I avoid adding ghee at this step as I find it too much heaviness for a dessert. Let the makhanas cool once they are all crisp and pinkish.

Place them into a deep bowl. This a large 600 ml katori I used.

And crush them all using the bottom of a tumbler or any instrument you find useful for this. A pestle would work nicely too. The nuts will be crushed roughly, so you end up with a few bits and some powder.

Chop the almonds and cashew nuts roughly. To make the chopping easy, just rinse them all with water once, wait for about 10 minutes (this was the time I was dry roasting the makhanas) and then chop them on a board.

By this time, around 10-15 minutes or more if you have been doing a few other things on the sly, the milk has been reducing. All these chopped and crushed nuts will be added once the milk is reduced to half.

Simmer the brunj for another 10 minutes or till it gets thick and creamy. Add the sugar and malai or fresh cream to it, stir well and take it off the stove.

Add the saffron, stir and keep covered for about 5 minutes. The pan is opened to welcome a wonderful aroma.

Most people like raisins in this kheer but somehow I always skip adding them. I am not too fond of soaked plump rasins. You can always add some chironji, some melon seeds and some pistachios as well. The mix of nuts is a personal choice so go with what you like. But there will be no rice or other grains in this kheer for sure.

Some people add khoya (dehydrated milk) to thicken it, that is also a personal choice. I like the aroma and rich taste we get from reducing the milk slowly. I cooked it in a copper handi that is tin coated on the inside. It doesn't add to the flavors but a handi is a convenient vessel to cook milky dishes.

This kheer called brunj or biranji is served hot or warm. Even at room temperature but I don;t remember having it chilled. Even now I don't like it chilled. Warm it should be for me. The nuts provide a nice mouthful of textures, makhana becomes soft almost giving it a feel of bread pudding when the brunj is served hot. Chill it and the makhanas will be slightly chewy, though the taste wont change. The texture of fried makhana in ghee is better if you like to do it that way.

Do let me know if you make it, hot, warm or chilled?

parippu pradhaman | mung daal kheer in coconut milk base..

Long time back when I read an elaborate recipe of parippu pradhaman I wanted to taste this mung daal kheer immediately.

It had everything that I love.. coconut, jaggery and a lentil base. But as it happens our attention span is so minuscule that it slipped off my mind completely. Though kept knocking at the back of my head whenever I used jaggery for other things. This Onam when I was chatting with Rajani, she talked of this again. And then it was just irresistible for me to wait. Read the recipe again and with some more inputs from her, I started with it right away.

Half an hour later a superbly aromatic dessert was ready and I licked the spoon. It was a revelation.It is not a kheer. Noway related to a kheer of north India but equally great in taste and flavors.I am hooked to it. Made it once more after that as we both just loved it. My mung daal consumption has increased now.



ingredients..
(2-4 servings)

3/4 cup of yellow mung daal (skinned mung beans)
a cup of water
a carton/can of coconut milk (I used a carton of Dabur homemade coconut milk, freshly extracted coconut milk will be absolutely gorgeous)
roughly 1/2 cup of shaved or grated jaggery (not packed)
1 tbsp + 1 tsp of ghee
2 tbsp of chopped Cashew nuts
2 -4 tbsp of chopped bits of fresh coconut
green cardamom powder a pinch if you like, I didn't use it



procedure...

Take a wide base pan and dry roast the mung with a tsp of ghee on medium flame till it turns pink and aromatic.

Put it in a pressure cooker with the water and pressure cook till the first whistle blows and then about 4-5 minutes more on low flame. let it cool naturally till the pressure releases.

Add the jaggery and the coconut milk and cook for about 3-4 minutes, the Pradhaman get thick like a slurry. Taste the pradhaman for sweetness, you might like to add a little more jaggery to it, depends on the brand of jaggery being used as all of them have different intensity, being an unrefined sugar with a lot of minerals in it.

Heat the remaining ghee in a small pan and fry the cashew first and then add the coconut bits to fry till pink. Add this hot ghee mixture to the pressure cooker.

Mix well and serve warm. I just loved it warm. The comfort of a lentil is always nice for me, never knew it would be in this form as well. I am not a dessert person but some desserts like this make me really go week in my knee. Jaggery and coconut, bound to be happy together.

 I chilled the leftovers to see if we like that more. Arvind was okay with the chilled version but for me it will always be warm. Quickly reheated in microwave, my bowl of dessert comfort.

This Parippu Pradhaman is definitely healthier than a rice kheer. Lesser Glycemic load for sure. Provided you don't make it too sweet.

I would recommend milder sweetening of desserts, as it allows the other flavors to shine through. And a pleasant aroma of roasted mung is the USP of this Pradhaman. Jaggery comes next and he Coconut flavors stays in the background. The fried Cashew and Coconut bits add a nice additional flavor and bite.

Just lovely. Try this if you haven't tried this Kerala delicacy yet.

Cheers.

sama ke chawal ki kheer ... vrat ka khana..

Sama ke chawal ki kheer is a popular fasting food as well as an everyday dessert in UP homes. In Uttarakhand it is called as jhangore ki kheer.

This sama ka chawal is also known as Barnyard millet, samyak ke chawal or parsai ke chawal. It is a millet grown in many parts of the country and consumed in many ways too. Sama ki khichdi, sama ki idli, sama ka dhokla etc are made frequently during navratri fasting.

Sama ke chawal ki kheer is a delicacy of UP. I remember my father used to like it very much and we learned about this grain just for the love of this kheer. Later on when I started experimenting with my food the other recipes were worked upon and all of them were much appreciated. Sama or barnyard millet is quite easy to work with.

We are not fasting the Navratris but I decided to make this kheer just to celebrate in our own way. I miss the joys of fasting the nine days of Navaratri, making all new types of phalahaar food and being excited about it. The enthusiasm and excitement has mellowed down certainly, and the sense of inner harmony, which is so required for a nine day fasting is lacking too, for reasons very obvious.

Hopefully we will again be enjoying our fasting feasts in the coming years. Cooking a few phalahaar recipes and feasting on them once or twice during the fasting season is the way to bring myself closer to that sense of contentment I guess. This kheer made us feel really good when it was needed.

The recipe is very simple, actually easier than the rice kheer we make. Usually I used to make this kheer by cooking the grains directly in milk, but this time I decided to soak the grains for a while and this made the cooking time really shortened. Also, the texture of the kheer was better this way.

Half a cup of sama ke chawal was soaked in water for an hour. It was then added to a liter of boiling milk. Using full cream milk will be good as the kheer will be creamy and rich that way. Although skimmed milk can also be used with fairly good results. The boiling kheer is cooked on low flame, stirring a couple of times in between. We were having our morning tea, with stretched out news papers all around... when the kheer was cooking and I just stirred it once after mixing the sama ke chawal in the boiling milk. Thick base of the pan and really low flame will be helpful if you are not around in the kitchen all the while. That is the reason I said it is easier than the rice kheer as that needs frequent stirring for longer duration. This sama ki kheer will be ready, creamy and rich within 25-30 minutes of cooking ...

Add sugar to taste, we like very light sugar in this kheer, try less sugar first and add more if you need so. Add some chopped nuts of choice, I added slivered almonds, pistachios and dried rose petals...

The kheer thickens when cooled down, and tastes great even then. Consistency can be adjusted according to preference.

I call my father whenever I make something he used to like when we were kids, and he was free of sugar restrictions. Otherwise I am not a frequent caller, that is the way I am but certain foods are associated with memories and great conversation starters.This sama ki kheer is one of them.

Edited to add : the pictures have been changed in May 2017, here the sama ki kheer or jhangore ki kheer is featured in Coppre utensils.

seviyan kheer or vermicelli kheer | sheer khurma

After sharing my experiences in Banaras this recipe of seviyan kheer or seviyan payasam seems to be a good idea as I brought some fine seviyan from Dalmandi where you get the best seviyan of the world. Yes I have heard many of my Muslim friends mention they get their seviyan for sheer khurma and seviyon ka Muzaffar from Dalmandi of Banaras and that it is the best they can get.

I agree absolutely with them. The sheer khurma is called a seviyon ki kheer or seviyan in Hindu homes, a clear influence of the Muslim cuisines and we love it. Everyone stocks u some seviyan during the Eid season as that is when these come in truckloads.

Sheer khurma or light and thin seviyan kheer is easy and quick to make and Arvind can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, he is brought up on sweet breakfasts and breakfasts for meals. As an occasional dessert we all love sheer khurma or seviyan.

ingredients
a cup of broken seviyan (thin vermicelli)
1 liter whole milk
2 tbsp sura
chopped nuts to taste
cardamom or rose water to flavour (optional)

procedure

Heat some ghee (2 tbsp) in a pan, tip in a cup of broken seviyan into it and fry slowly till golden brown. It is better to keep the flame low as it allows uniform browning to ensure great taste.

Pour in full cream milk into the pan (1 litre) and let it boil while stirring constantly, adding 2 tbsp sugar or more if you like it really sweet. It is done as soon as it starts boiling. Some cream can be added to make it really rich but that is optional.

Some chopped nuts added and it is ready. Serve it hot, warm or chilled, we love it any which way.

Cardamoms or rose water can be added if you like. We like it plain.

I remember these seviyan and sooji ki kheer used to be quick desserts whenever some guests came unannounced, in the 70s and 80s there was no custom of letting people know if one had a plan to visit. Those surprise visits used to be the sweetest. Those days are gone forever.

We can make seviyan even now and find a way to remember good old days.