Mother's Day Special: Gulabi Firni

Firni is a North Indian dessert made of milk and rice. Indian cuisine is very well known for its variety of rice puddings like kheer, payasam, payesh etc. But firni is a little different from all these varieties of desserts. Here the rice is soaked, ground into paste and then cooked with milk.

Firni is actually a part of the Mughlai cuisine. Traditionally, firni is a plain, creamy dessert served with almonds and pistachios in earthenware pots. But we have added a little twist by adding rose syrup to further enhance the taste of this exotic Indian dessert recipe.

So make this Mother's Day special for your mom by treating her with the delicious Gulabi firni.

Serves: 6-8

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• Basmati rice- ½ cup
• Milk- 1 litre (4½ cups)
• Sugar- ½ cup
• Rose syrup- 4tbsp
• Green cardamom powder- ½ tsp
• Pista- 1tsp (crushed)
• Water- ½ cup
• Rose petals- for garnish

Procedure

1. Soak the basmati rice in half a cup of water for about an hour. After that grind it into a very smooth paste and keep it aside.
2. Heat the milk along with the sugar in a pan. Bring it to boil over medium heat.
3. Stir the milk frequently.
4. Add the rose syrup and keep stirring for 2 minutes.
5. Now add the prepared rice paste to the boiling milk, keep stirring continuously to avoid formation of lumps.
6. Reduce the heat and keep stirring the milk for another 10 minutes till the mixture starts thickening like a custard.
7. Let it boil for another 5 minutes on low flame. Keep stirring constantly.
8. Now turn-off the flame and sprinkle cardamom powder. Mix well.
9. Let the firni cool to room temperature. Keep stirring occasionally so that skin does not form on the top.
10. Now transfer the firni into dessert bowls and refrigerate for an hour.
11. Garnish with pistas and rose petals before serving.

Your mom is surely going to love this dessert prepared by you and will cherish it for a lifetime.