Cardamom Rice Pudding — slow-simmered North Indian kheer

i. Origin & history

Kheer descends from the Sanskrit kṣīra, meaning milk, and rice cooked in milk is among the oldest recorded sweet dishes of India. Versions of it — sometimes with jaggery or honey — appear in ancient and medieval literature, in temple traditions and in Ayurvedic texts. It is a dish of offering as much as of eating: kheer or payasam is prepared for gods and ancestors, and the temple at Puri in Odisha is famous for a kheer offered to Jagannath that, according to temple tradition, has been made for many centuries.

Across the subcontinent the dish goes by many names. In North India, Pakistan and Bangladesh it is kheer; in Bengal, payesh, often sweetened with date-palm jaggery (nolen gur) in winter; in South India, payasam or payasa; in Gujarat, dudhpak, which is cooked thicker and richer. The Persian shir berenj and the rice puddings of the Middle East and Europe belong to the same broad family, though each developed its own flavours.

In North Indian kitchens, kheer is made for almost every celebration: Diwali, Holi, Eid, birthdays, the arrival of a guest. On Sharad Purnima, the full moon of autumn, kheer is traditionally left out overnight in the moonlight before being eaten, a custom tied to beliefs about the moon's cooling and healing qualities. It is also the sweet most associated with family and home: everyone's mother has a version.

Cardamom is the defining flavour of North Indian kheer. Green cardamom, native to the forests of the Western Ghats in South India, has been traded and prized for thousands of years, and its cool, floral, slightly eucalyptus aroma is the signature scent of Indian milk sweets. This version leans into it, using both whole pods during cooking and freshly ground seeds at the end. For the wider family of rice puddings around the world, and an everyday family kheer, see our rice pudding page.

ii. Getting the most out of the cardamom

Cardamom's aroma comes from volatile essential oils concentrated in the small black seeds inside the green pod. The two main compounds give it its characteristic notes: a fresh, eucalyptus-like coolness and a sweet, floral, slightly citrus perfume. Because they are volatile, they start to evaporate as soon as the seeds are ground, and pre-ground cardamom loses much of its flavour within weeks.

This recipe uses cardamom twice. Lightly crushed whole pods go into the milk at the start, slowly infusing it as it simmers; the pod husks add a gentle, rounded background. Then, at the end, seeds from a few more pods are freshly ground and stirred in off the heat, so their brightest, top-note aroma is not boiled away. The result is a deeper and more fragrant kheer than either method alone.

The texture of kheer comes from the reduction of the milk as much as from the rice. Simmering whole milk slowly for an hour evaporates water, concentrating the milk proteins, fat and lactose; the lactose and proteins also brown very slightly, giving a gentle caramel note. At the same time, the rice releases starch as it softens and breaks, thickening the milk further. Soaking the rice first, and lightly crushing some of the grains, speeds this up.

Sugar is added only once the rice is fully soft. Sugar competes with the rice starch for water, slowing its cooking; added too early, it can leave the grains firm. Kheer thickens considerably as it cools, so it should be taken off the heat while it is still slightly looser than you want to eat it.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 6 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 70 g basmati rice
• 1500 ml whole milk
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 8 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 120 g sugar
• 5 more green cardamom pods, seeds freshly ground
• 12 saffron threads, soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk
• 1 tsp rose water (optional)
• 2 tbsp almonds, slivered
• 2 tbsp pistachios, slivered
• 2 tbsp sultanas or raisins

Basmati gives a fragrant kheer with distinct grains; short-grain or broken rice gives a creamier, thicker one. Full-fat milk is essential — the long reduction relies on its fat and solids. A litre and a half of milk to 70 g of rice gives a classic, pourable North Indian kheer; for a thicker one, use less milk or more rice. Green cardamom should be plump and green, not pale or brown, which signals age. Some cooks add a tablespoon of condensed milk or khoya at the end for extra richness. Jaggery can replace sugar, but must be stirred in off the heat to avoid curdling the milk.

iv. Method

1. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then soak it in water for 30 minutes. Drain and crush about half of the grains lightly between your fingers.
2. Heat the ghee in a heavy-based pan and fry the drained rice for 1–2 minutes, stirring, until it smells fragrant.
3. Pour in the milk and add the crushed cardamom pods. Bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring regularly so the milk does not catch or boil over.
4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 45–60 minutes, stirring every few minutes and scraping the base and sides of the pan, until the rice is completely soft and the milk has reduced by about a third and turned creamy.
5. Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Fish out the cardamom pods.
6. Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the freshly ground cardamom, the saffron milk and the rose water, if using, along with most of the nuts and sultanas.
7. Serve warm, or cool and chill for at least 2 hours. Scatter with the remaining nuts before serving. Loosen with a little cold milk if it has thickened too much.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Use a heavy-based pan. Milk catches easily during the long simmer, and a scorched flavour cannot be removed.
• Keep the heat low and stir often. A gentle simmer reduces the milk without boiling over or burning; scrape the base and sides as you stir.
• Grind cardamom fresh. Pre-ground cardamom loses its aroma quickly; seeds ground at the last moment give a much brighter flavour.
• Add sugar only when the rice is soft. Sugar slows the rice from cooking and can leave the grains firm.
• Add saffron and rose off the heat. Their aromas are delicate and fade with boiling.
• Stop while it is still loose. Kheer thickens a great deal as it cools; take it off while still slightly runny.

vi. Variations

Kesar kheer is rich with saffron. Bengali payesh uses fragrant short-grain gobindobhog rice and, in winter, nolen gur. Gujarati dudhpak is thicker, richer and spiced with nutmeg as well as cardamom. Makhane ki kheer uses puffed lotus seeds, and seviyan, made with fine vermicelli, is the classic Eid version. South India's payasam includes many versions with jaggery and coconut milk.

Related milk puddings on DessertCat include phirni, made with ground rice and set in clay bowls; millet pudding, made with pearl millet; and the Persian saffron rice pudding sholeh zard, cooked in water rather than milk. Further afield, compare the Danish Christmas risalamande and the Portuguese arroz doce.

vii. Serving & storage

Kheer can be served warm, at room temperature or chilled: warm in winter, cold in summer. It is eaten on its own in small bowls, or alongside puris or after a festive meal. At Eid and Diwali, it is often offered to every visitor.

It keeps for up to three days in the fridge, covered. It will thicken as it chills, so stir in a little cold milk to loosen it, or warm it gently with milk. Kheer does not freeze well; the milk separates and the rice becomes grainy when thawed.

ix. More from Indian & South Asian

• Phirni — chilled ground-rice pudding
• Payasam — South Indian milk pudding
• Millet Pudding — pearl millet kheer
• Rasmalai — chhena in saffron milk
• Rice Pudding — kheer and its global family
• Risalamande — Danish Christmas rice pudding