Author Notes
Pakistani 'phirni' rice pudding is a firm favorite in all households and is always served cold in earthenware clay pots which are meant to keep the phirni cooler in the warmer months and I think it always added this special 'earthy' flavour to the rice pudding. Here is a slightly fusion version - using white chocolate and nutmeg and dark chocolate and cardamom, this rice pudding not only looks exotic but the tastes are unique and unusual.
I couldn't resist calling it Yin Yang Phirni as the Yin part is the white chocolate and nutmeg, cooling and feminine while the Yang side has cardamom and dark choc which is warming and masculine... —Sumayya Usmani
Test Kitchen Notes
In this Phirni, PukkaPaki has taken a universal comfort food (rice pudding), used the Pakastani Phirni as a base -- and gone edgy. Chocolate? Hardly a tradition there, but the way it pairs up with milk and spices keeps the comfort and transports it. Then, using both white and dark chocolate with (still traditional) spices, gives it two personalities. Yin and yang. I ate one and then the other, trying to self-diagnose my yin or yang. A toss up -- each one seemed to satisfy what I've always wanted. —susan g
Ingredients
- Yin phirni side
-
1 cup
ground rice
-
1-3 cups
whole milk
-
1/2 cup
sweetened condensed milk
-
3/4 teaspoon
freshly ground nutmeg
-
1
pinch of saffron soaked in hot milk for 15 minutes
-
1/2 cup
chopped almonds (optional)
-
1/2 cup
while chocolate buttons
- Yang Phirni side
-
1 cup
ground rice
-
1-3 cups
whole milk
-
1/2 cup
sweetened condensed milk
-
1 teaspoon
freshly ground cardamom
-
1
pinch saffron soaked in hot milk for 15 minutes
-
1/2 cup
chopped pistachios
-
1/2 cup
dark chocolate buttons
Directions
-
In two separate saucepans, one at the time, heat 1 cups of the milk on medium to low heat with the rice and condensed milk and add saffron and the spices (cardamom and nutmeg separately) , stir constantly not letting the mixture stick to the bottom of the pan. Keep adding more milk if necessary
-
Add more milk if necessary and keep stirring for about 10 minutes. Now add the nuts. Once the rice is cooked through take off the heat and stir in the chocolates allowing to melt completely.
-
Now in a round tapas style serving dish place a piece of baking parchment vertically to form a yin yang shape and pour the white chocolate rice pudding in one side and the dark chocolate pudding in the other. Fill into more tapas dishes if desired.
-
Cool thoroughly in the fridge and take out the paper slowly before serving
Sumayya is a food writer and cookery teacher who grew up in Pakistan, but has now found home in Glasgow. Sumayya is passionate about sharing the flavours of her homeland with a view to highlight Pakistani cuisine as a distinct one. The author or two cookbooks: Summers Under The Tamarind Tree (Frances Lincoln) and Mountain Berries and Desert Spice (Frances Lincoln, out April 2017), her writing reminisces about food and memories growing up in Pakistan. She writes for many publications, appears on television, and co-presents BBC Kitchen Cafe weekly, on BBC Radio Scotland.
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