Disaster Kheer Popsicles

Disaster Kheer Popsicles

I've had more than a few kitchen related disasters in my day.

Once I managed to curry the compost.  It went like this:  several years earlier, I spilled ajwain seed on the kitchen floor, and decided to vacuum it up.  As I have a vacuum cleaner that uses only the most choice, expensive bags, and since the bag was brand new, I was obliged to keep using the vacuum till the bag was filled, which took three months, and so everytime I vacuumed, the aroma of ajwain wafted.  A couple of summers ago when I spilled dried fenugreek leaves on the kitchen floor, I knew better than to grab the vacuum.  This time I grabbed the broom and dustpan, and being ecologically minded, I took the dustpan outside and dumped it in the compost.  For most of the summer my entire backyard was graced with the strongest curry smells ever…

On this theme, I will confess I tried a different method of making kheer, and it really didn’t work.  Although it looks pretty enough, it was a little bland, not to mention soupy.  Restaurants here in Calgary love to serve their kheer bland and soupy, but I disdain such a kheer.  So, what to do with it? 

The Original Kheer Recipe

2 cups water
½ cup basmati rice
4 cups milk
¼ cup cream
½ cup raw sugar cane crystals
5 cardamom pods, husked and ground in a mortar and pestle
pinch of saffron
1 tablespoon amaretto (almond liqueur)
2 tablespoons slivered, unblanched almonds

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons amaretto

It looked nice enough...

As usual, I boiled the rice with the water till most of the water had evaporated, on medium high heat without a lid.  This took about 30 minutes.  Then I poured in the milk, turned the heat to medium low, and continued boiling, stirring often.  When the milk was reduced by about half, and when the rice seemed to be thickening up the kheer, which was about two hours later, I added the cream, sugar, saffron and cardamom.  I continued cooking about another hour, then I let it cool a bit  and added the tablespoon of amaretto, before pouring it into a serving dish.  (Notice that I didn’t bash or smash at the rice in any way, which was my first mistake.  For some reason, I believed I could take a shortcut on this important step!) 

I sliced the strawberries and poured the 3 tablespoons of amaretto over them, and set them aside.  (This should be done several hours before serving.)

Shortly before serving, I sprinkled the almonds over the kheer, and at serving, I also added the strawberries.

It was only o k a y, so we had a lot left over.  To avert the disaster of having to throw it out, I instead threw the left-over kheer into the blender, with two cups of mango and one cup of raspberries, a cup of plain yogurt and ¼ cup of raw sugar cane crystals.  I liquefied the mixture, and poured it into popsicle makers, which I popped in the freezer. 

At least the butter chicken turned out well...

The disaster is now averted, but I know there will be plenty more…  What have you done to avert a kitchen disaster?  Do tell!