Phirni is a creamy dessert (rice pudding) made with Basmati rice, milk and sugar as main ingredients and flavoured with cardamom/ rose water, saffron and garnished nuts.
You can make Phirni for special occasions, festivals Diwali, Eid and Ramadan.
Check out this South Indian Paal payasam recipe and recipe in this website.
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About Phirni
Phirni or firni is introduced in India by the Mughals, after that we embraced it as part of culinary tradition in India and there are so many versions, each adding unique flavours and ingredients to the basic recipe. Here is my version of Phirni that you can easily make at home.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make phirni.
- Basmati rice – typically used for flavour, easy cooking nature.
- Milk – I used full fat milk, UHT, but fresh milk works well too.
- Sugar – White sugar for sweetening
- Rose water – I add this for it’s sweet fragrance.
- Cardamom – For wonderful aroma.
- Pistachios – It looks beautiful as well as nice texture to the dessert.
- Saffron – I used for garnishing.
Please check my recipe card below for exact measurements.
Step-by-step instructions
Let’s see how to make phirni with step by step photos and instructions.
- Wash and soak basmati rice in hot water for 15 minutes with ¼ cup water.
- Then take it in a blender with ¼ cup water and grind it to a paste. I ground to a finer than rava/ suji texture.
- Bring 4 cups of milk to boil in a heavy bottomed vessel.
- Once it boils, simmer for 10 minutes.
5. After that, add the ground rice gradually stirring in. It easily gets stuck at the bottom and high chances of getting burnt.
6. So keep mixing all the bottom, scraping the bottom.
7. Once thick add sugar and it will loosen the texture furthermore. You can add more milk if it is too thick.
8. Let the sugar melt and blend well. Switch off the flame.
9. Cool down completely and add rose water, mix well.
10. Refrigerate and serve chilled with nuts, saffron topping. I soaked pistachios in warm water for 15 mins and chopped it for the garnish.
They traditionally serve phirni in mud pots called a shakoora. I had some matkas with me in which I served it. This makes the pudding more thick in texture.
Here’s the bronze kadai (affiliate link) I used in this recipe.
Substitutions & Variations
- You can make this as rose phirni adding roohafza or saffron phirni by adding saffron while simmering the milk.
- Mix fruit puree with chopped fruits topping to cooled phirni to make it flavoured. Mango, lychee, apple, strawberry are some good ideas.
- Instead of grinding rice, you can also use rice flour to make this rice pudding.
- You can also use millets in place of rice. I have already shared it as Gulabi kheer.
Storage
You can keep the chilled phirni for couple of days in the fridge. Since it uses milk, I would not recommend more than that.
Top Tip
- Add sugar after the rice gets cooked.
- Make sure to keep stirring to avoid lumps in the texture.
- Soaking rice helps in creamy texture as well as easy cooking.
- Add the flavouring agents towards the end. This brings out the best flavour.
FAQ
Make sure to grind the rice smooth and thicken the milk before adding ground rice.
Rice texture, preparation (cooking process), flavours, consistency, serving style, regional differences. Kheer is mostly made with whole rice, while phirni is made with ground rice.
Grind with water and make it a liquid instead of thick paste. Also instead of grinding to fine paste, let it have some texture. Keep stirring for smooth texture, otherwise the milk + rice stuck in bottom can affect the texture.
Recipe card
Phirni Recipe | Firni Dessert | Indian Rice Pudding
Phirni is a creamy dessert (rice pudding) made with Basmati rice, milk and sugar as main ingredients and flavoured with cardamom/ rose water, saffron and garnished nuts.
Equipments (Amazon Affiliate links)
Cup measurements
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Basmati rice
- 4 cups Milk
- ½ cup Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Rose water
- 1 Cardamom powdered
- 2 tablespoon Pistachios
- 1 pinch Saffron
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Instructions
-
Wash and soak basmati rice in hot water for 15 minutes with ¼ cup water.
-
Then grind it to a paste. I ground to a fine rava/ suji texture.
-
Bring 4 cups of milk to boil in a heavy bottomed vessel.
-
Once it boils, simmer for 10 minutes.
-
After that, add the ground rice gradually stirring in. It easily gets stuck at the bottom and high chances of getting burnt.
-
So keep mixing covering all the bottom, scraping the bottom.
-
Once thick add sugar and it will loosen the texture furthermore. You can add more milk if it is too thick.
-
Let the sugar melt and blend well. Switch off the flame.
-
Cool down completely and add rose water or cardamom. Mix well.
-
Refrigerate and serve chilled with nuts, saffron topping. I soaked pistachios in warm water for 15 mins and chopped it for the garnish.
Notes
- Add sugar after the rice gets cooked.
- Make sure to keep stirring to avoid lumps in the texture.
- Soaking rice helps in creamy texture as well as easy cooking.
- Add the flavouring agents towards the end. This brings out the best flavour.