Malayi ki kheer ~ Sabudana Vermicelli kheer ~ Eid recipes

I have so many memories linked to Ramadan, having studied from the Uni - Aligarh Muslim University,  I am already familiar and known to the nitty-gritties of this month long celebration. I have attended so many of the Iftaar parties in girls hostel and the special Eid dinner in the main College Campus too. It was so much fun and joy, having under cooked sheermaal, runny sheer, and stale Veg Biryani with almost no veggies... all gulped down the stomach and then crashing at bed all stuffed up to gills. I now think of it and smile on all those memories and would love to re-live them if life permits...

The best part of that Ramadan period was of course sweets. I used to love those chilled puddings my friends’ Mums used to make for us. So many different varieties, just on the name of Kheer. Some with egg, without egg, with rice, semolina, vermicelli and some with Sabudana. This version of Kheer which I am going to present today, is one of those which was a bit on the luxury side and was called Malayi ki Kheer. My friend loved it, and so did I. Hence, when Humi asked me to bring in something for Ramadan, I instantly knew I had to make something from that lot. This Kheer uses half milk and half cream, instead of just milk and no condensed milk at all.Plus it doesn't use rice, but Tapioca pearls and Vermicelli. I have used a hint of strawberry essence too in it, the color of which is not that visible since it was not pink in colour.

But the taste was amazing and it complimented the overall flavour very well. Its optional and you may not need to use it, instead you can use rose water for extra flavour or no essence at all. Recipe is very simple and quick to make, unlike the Rice Kheer and the taste is very different from the usual kheer since we are using heavy milk fat here which is rich and sweet in itself. Beware, it’s very dense in calories. But then, its Ramadan and you need energy to keep up the fast, don’t you ;)

I did this guest post for Humi of Gheza-e-Shiriin during the month of Ramadan this year. Hop over to her blog for the recipe, which is easy and mess free and am sure wont disappoint you. An excellent dessert to be served for evening get togethers, tastes heaven when served chilled. Thank you Humi for the opportunity of doing this post for you and rekindle my memories.. :)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups milk + 2 tbsp for soaking cashews
• 2 cups heavy cream ( you may use home-made Malayi as well )
• ½ cup vermicelli
• ½ cup Sago pearls
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp strawberry Essence, or any other essence
• 1 tbsp ghee  - to roast vermicelli
• ½ cup cashews

Method:

Preparation:
# Soak Sago pearls for 4-5 hours in warm water, drain well and keep aside before starting with the cooking.    You may wish to keep it soaked overnight depending on the quality of the pearls and the temperature in your region

• Heat ghee in a pan and roast vermicelli on low flame for about 4-5 minutes, it should just turn light brown and nothing more.  Keep stirring it to avoid burning, keep aside once done
• Soak cashews in 2 tbsp milk for 1 hour and then grind it to a fine paste. Keep aside.
•  Now heat milk in a big pan and bring it to the boil, add cream and sugar and simmer it just till sugar dissolves. This will take another 3-4 minutes.
• Now add cashew paste,  roasted vermicelli and Sago pearl to it and cook on a low-medium flame till it swells up and get thick. This will take around 10-12 minutes.
• Just check the softness of both Sago and vermicelli and if its cooked, add the essence of your choice turn off the flame. If you cook any further, this will get very thick and you may have to add more milk to it.
• Serve hot or chilled, depending on your choice. It tastes delish in both forms 

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Notes

• You may replace some of the milk with water, if it gets too thick
• Adding Essenceis purely upto you, it’s only for extra flavour and nothing else.
• You may add more nuts to it, I just like to keep it simple

Eid Mubarak !! :)