Kheer || Rice Kheer ||Crock Pot Kheer
Kheer is an Indian rice pudding made with only three basic ingredients- rice, milk and sugar. I feel that’s the reason it is so commonly made in India because these basic ingredients are so readily available everywhere.
My recipe calls for more than 3 ingredients but those are all optional and add ons. Although, a simple rice kheer that my mom made was always made with only rice, sugar and milk.
Rice Kheer In Crock-Pot
Recently my sis-in-law gifted me a crockpot. A crockpot is an electrical cooking vessel that has a removable internal pot. The heat is usually applied around the sides of the pot.
Different types of crockpots are available in the market these days (few of them have settings for different dishes). The crockpot is very easy to use but extremely efficient. It has three manual settings for heat control. It’s actually a really convenient way to cook, and you can safely leave everything to cook overnight or all day. Plus, they aren’t even hard on the pockets.
I always thought that slow cooking was about throwing everything into one pot and leaving it to bubble away. But once I started using it, I found it very interesting, healthy and extremely convenient. In an electric slow cooker, you can either leave things to cook on high heat for four to six hours or on low heat for six to eight hours. Ideally, I would cook on low heat to get the best flavour.
Slow cooking tips :
1. Lightly season your dish at the beginning of cooking. The slow cooking will concentrate the sauce so it’s best to adjust salt and sugar later to stop it from becoming too sweet or salty.
2. Generally when we think about slow-cooked food first thing which comes to mind is meat but ..It’s not only meat that can be slow-cooked; there are some fab lentil dishes too. Just a few of them require overnight soaking just to reduce cooking time.
3. Also, Don’t add too much liquid you only need to cover the ingredients. As the lid fits tightly the liquid won’t evaporate.
Now coming back to the recipe for Slow Cooker Rice Kheer. Rice Kheer is always enjoyed better when it’s thick and creamy. For this texture, slow cookers are perfect. That’s why the first dish I ever made on my slow cooker was Kheer, and also because in India they say it’s good luck to start every good thing with something sweet.
The rice kheer turned out way more creamy and delicious than I had expected. Generally, you have to keep stirring the Kheer continuously on gas, however, with the slow cooker no stirring was required. My family enjoyed it so much that I ended up making it twice within a month, and it has become our recent favourite slow cooker recipe.
Flavoring the Kheer
As I said, you can make the kheer without any flavour with just the 3 basic ingredients. However, a few spices and flavours are often added to the kheer to make it even more delicious!
Cardamom: of course the most common and my favourite. I never make my kheer without it.
Rose Water: a splash of rose water goes a long way in giving the kheer that flowery aroma.
Saffron: this was not used commonly in my home. But if you are making kheer for a special occasion then you can add some strands of saffron. Will give it a nice colour and aroma.
Nuts: I personally love nuts in my kheer. I usually add cashews, almonds. I like raisins too.
Kewra essence: is an extract distilled from pandanus flowers and used to flavour a lot of Indian dishes and desserts. sometimes in kheer too.
I also tried Khichdi, Moong dal, Arhar Dal, Soups, Dal Makhani , kadhi and everything turned out good.
Finally, I would like to suggest you a few more recipes from my blog
Rice kheer- An Indian Sweet
Course: Dessert, Main courseCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy4
servings5
minutes40
minutes244
kcal20 min
Classic Indian Rice pudding made with rice, sugar, milk and flavored with cardamom, nuts and touch of rose water. This creamy pudding is one of the most popular Indian desserts!
Ingredients
Ingredients :
1. Milk 5 cups
2. Sugar 3/4 cup
3. Basmati Rice 1/2 cup
4. Rice flour 4 tsp
5. Almonds, chopped 2 tbsp
6. Cashew Nuts, chopped 2 tbsp
7. Raisins 2 tbsp
8. Pistachios 1-2 tbsp(finely chopped for garnishing)
2-3 cardamom
1 tsp Rose water
Directions
- Rinse the rice until water turns clear. Then soak the rice in enough water for 20 to 30 minutes. Once soaked for around 20 minutes, drain the rice using a colander and set aside.
- Now transfer the washed rice to the slow cooker pot, add nuts and raisins, sugar and milk.
- Stir well and add rice in it ,close the pot with lid and cook in high mode for 3 hours or in Low mode for 4 hours.
- Add kesar ( saffron) at the end and garnish with chopped nuts.
- FOR TRADITIONAL WAY
- Rinse the rice until water turns clear. Then soak the rice in enough water for 20 to 30 minutes. Once soaked for around 20 minutes, drain the rice using a colander and set aside.
- Heat a heavy bottom pan on medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon of ghee to it and then add the soaked & drained rice. Also add 3-4 crushed green cardamom pods.
- Toss the rice with the ghee and cardamom for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly until aromatic.
- Then add the milk to the pan and stir well. Set heat to medium-high.
- Let the milk come to a boil, this will take around 10-12 minutes. Stir in between so that milk doesn’t stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Once the milk has come to a boil, lower the heat to low and let the kheer cook for around 25 minutes on low heat. Stir every 2 minutes or so.
- The milk will reduce considerably after 25 minutes and the kheer would look thick and the rice will be completely cooked.
- If you want super thick kheer, cook for 15 more minutes at this point.
- Add sugar and mix well.
- Also add in the nuts. I used cashews and almonds.
- Cook the kheer for 5 more minutes after adding the sugar and nuts. The sugar should dissolve completely. Don’t worry if your kheer doesn’t look very thick at this point.
- It will continue to thicken as it cools down.
- Add kesar ( saffron) at the end and garnish with chopped nuts.
Notes
- It is good to grease the crockpot bottom and sides using butter/ghee before adding all the ingredients.
- Cooking in low mode prevent browning.
- Also once the kheer is done, transfer the kheer to a serving bowl and not let in warm mode for long time else the color of the kheer turns light brownish due to edges burning.
- Depends on the quality of rice the consistency of the kheer may vary, so if you feel the kheer getting thick by end add 1/2 cup milk or if your kheer is thin let it cook for extra 20-30 minutes.
