Vegan Kheer (Cardamom Rice Pudding)

Servings: 2
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins + 15 mins cooling
Difficulty: Super easy
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Categories: Anglo-Indian, Dairy-free, Vegan

Kheer is a sweet indian rice pudding that is flavoured with cardamom.

It is typically more runny than the English homogenous solid counterpart, and traditionally made on the hob with basmati rice and cow’s milk. This recipe uses oat milk instead. It’s also slow cooked in the oven to save you slaving over the hob for hours, scraping burnt milk from the bottom of the pan. The oat milk compliments the cardamom and vanilla flavours beautifully to make a delicious vegan pudding that packs a mountain of flavour which is just as creamy and comforting as the traditional English and Indian rice puddings.

EQUIPMENT

Cookware: Oven-proof dish (500 ml capacity), baking tray (bigger than the oven-proof dish), non-stick milk pan (approx. 6″ diameter)

Specialist utensils: Mesh sieve, kitchen weighing scales

INGREDIENTS

50 g short grain pudding rice
330 ml Oatly barista version oat drink
165 g Oatly whippable vanilla custard
15 g soft brown sugar
2 cardamom pods, split open and seeds finely ground, husks discarded
Vanilla extract

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C (fan assisted 160C). Tip the pudding rice into the sieve and wash thoroughly under cold water. Leave to drain.
In the milk pan, tip in the oat milk, oat custard, brown sugar, cardamom and a splash of vanilla extract (less than 1/4 tsp). On low heat, bring the mixture to just below boiling point. Stir regularly to dissolve the sugar. You should see white steam coming off the surface of the milk when it’s ready.
Add the rice to the milk and stir well. Tip the mixture into the oven-proof dish. You may need to gently stir the bottom of the dish to distribute the rice evenly. Place the oven-proof dish on a baking tray in case the mixture bubbles over the rim while baking.
Bake for 15 mins on 180C, and then lower the temperature to 160C (fan assisted 140C) and bake for a further 1 hr.
Take the kheer out of the oven and leave to cool for 10-15 mins before eating. The rice will continue absorb the liquid and thicken as it cools.

Tip: Add roughly sliced blanched almonds to the mixture to give the kheer extra texture. To remove the almond skin, soak whole almonds in boiling water and leave for 30 mins. Simply peel/pop the skin off. Pat dry and with a sharp knife, carefully slice the almonds lengthways into rough sticks.