Odisha Rice Khiri Recipe | Rice Kheer Recipe

Rice Khiri is a popular dessert Prepared in Odia households during pooja or festive seasons. It is a must-have in every feast or ceremony menu. 

Chaula Khiri is a slow cooking process. You don’t need too much stuff to make this Khiri. All you need is proper technique and patience to prepare this. The rice Khiri recipe I am sharing here is a traditional one. I haven’t used any condensed milk or khoya for making this Rice Khiri. Only milk is used to get this Khiri recipe’s creamy texture and flavor.

Follow our step-by-step process to make the rice khiri at home. And, I am sure you won’t regret it after preparing. You get the same flavor and texture as the rice kheer prepared at feasts.

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What is Rice Khiri??

Rice khiri is a tasty Odia rice pudding. In Odia, Chaula means “uncooked rice”. Chaula khiri is a slow cooking process prepared with rice, fragrant with cardamom, sweetened with sugar or sometimes jaggery, and flavored with dry nuts.

Traditionally rice is slow-cooked with milk to prepare rice khiri. But I have separately cooked rice and then slowly cooked it with milk. This way you can save a lot of time, and the taste of kheer is awesome. Either way, you can cook.

 Which rice is suitable for making Kheer?

You can prepare rice kheer with raw, basmati or jasmine rice. But I highly recommend small grain basmati rice known as “kheer rice”. Kheer rice is widely available all over India. If it’s not available at your place, you can check in Indian grocery stores.

If you do not have kheer rice, you can use regular raw rice instead. That is also fine.

How is Chaula Khiri different from other Kheer Recipes?

These are the following points, how Chaula khiri making process differs from other kheer recipes.

1. The Khiri rice is soaked in water for about half an hour before making rice kheer.
2. Soaking hydrates the grains and shortens the cooking time.
3. Before cooking rice, caramelization and sautéing are the two main processes. 
4.  Caramelization helps to get the beautiful color in rice kheer. After caramelization, you don’t need to sauté rice for a long time.
5. Desi Ghee is used for sautéing rice. Ghee gives a beautiful flavor to the rice grains.
6. Full-fat milk is used to prepare the rice khiri recipe. It gives flavor and texture to the kheer without condensed milk or khoya.

    

   How to make Rice Khiri?

1. Soak the kheer rice (Small grain Basmati rice) for half an hour.
   
2. Pour ghee into a pressure cooker and let it heat.
   
   
3. Add sugar and caramelize it.
   
   
4. Drain the excess water from the rice and add the rice to caramelized ghee. 
   
   
5. Sauté rice in low-medium flame for 5 minutes. Don’t over-cook. Otherwise, it makes the rice grains too hard.
   
   
6. Add two cups of water along with little salt. Mix and cover the lid. Cook for two whistles in medium flame. As we have used soaked rice, it doesn’t take too much time to cook.
   
   
7. After the air releases, open the cooker. Add a little milk and mash lightly with a ladle. This way lumps will not form, and rice grains break easily.
   
   

8. I have used full-fat milk for preparing rice kheer recipe. Add half liter milk and let it cook with the rice on low flame.
   
   
9. After the milk thickens, add another half liter of milk. Cook for 15-20 minutes in low flame.
   This way, you don’t need condensed milk or khoya to prepare kheer at home. The full-fat milk works for you. 

10. Add sugar and let it melt properly.
    
    
11. In a little pan add ghee and roast some cashews. Add the cashews in kheer. You can also use raisins.
    
    
12. Add a pinch of cardamom powder to get an aroma. 
    
    
13. Serve hot or chilled Odia style chaula khiri.

How to store Rice Khiri?

A slow-cooking rice kheer can be stored for maximum a week. You can store kheer in an airtight container after it cools down to room temperature.

Sometimes kheer curdles if the weather is too hot. So refrigerate it and whenever you want takeout from freeze and have it chilled or can warm. 

As raisins are a bit sour, there is a chance of kheer curdling. So avoid raisins if preparing in a large batch.