A recent Radha cooking class covered the delicious art of Indian cuisine, which has a fascinating history and is also one of the few international cooking traditions with a fully vegetarian repertoire. One of chef Robert’s featured recipes for the class was a lovely rice kheer with fresh almond milk – great for breakfast or dessert! (Photos by Gem Salsberg)
RICE KHEER
(yield: 4 – 6 portions)
1 cup rice (short grain brown rice, basmati, arborio, etc.)
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups almond milk (see recipe below)
1/2 cup jaggery (can be found at indian markets; or you can substitute brown sugar, turbinado, agave, maple syrup, etc.)
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
cashews and raisins to taste
1) Combine rice and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, cook on a low heat until rice is well done.
2) Add the cinnamon stick, almond milk and crumble-in the jaggery until it breaks-down and mixes-in. Allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, adjust thickness with almond milk.
3) Turn off heat and sprinkle with cardamom powder.
4) Pour into individual ramekins, and garnish with raisins and cashews.
ALMOND MILK
(yield 1 liter)
1 cup raw almonds
3 cup water
1 tsp agave
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1) Soak the almonds for 6+ hours, or overnight. RINSE THOROUGHLY.
2) Combine the soaked & rinsed almonds and water in a high-speed blender and process until smooth. Add agave and coconut oil at the end.
3) Strain through a fine-meshed strainer or several layers of moistened cheesecloth.