Siberian Tigers & Mango Rice Pudding / Phirni

After almost a month of monotony, last weekend hubby dearest was finally able to take some time off from work and we went on a road trip to Krugersdorp to visit the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve . It’s a grand game reserve with some fabulous big cats in their natural environment. The highlight of the day was a chance to get up-close and touchy-touchy with some Siberian Tigers - Magnificent creatures.
 

Yup, those are my legs there.

We finished off the day with a trek to The Wonder Caves, an underground limestone cave with some amazing stalactite and stalagmite formations. The climb down was relatively easy but the hike back up wreaked havoc on my calf muscles.
 

Guess what that amazing stalagmite looks like!!

On our way back home after a tiring but highly enjoyable day, we spotted a black lady selling fruit on the roadside and bought a couple of delicious looking mangoes. They were juicy, sweet with a hint of tart. I wanted to make something interesting with them. That’s when I remembered a recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor, I had recently seen on TV. It was a Mango Phirni, made pretty much like a regular phirni with some mango in it. Phirni is basically a pudding made of rice and traditionally served in clay pots with some silver foil garnish on top.

 

It’s a simple recipe and brings out the sweetness and sourness of the mango fantastically. This is just enough for 2 portions.

What we need:

Mango Puree– 1 cup

Milk – 2 cups
Long Grained rice – 2 tblsp
Almonds – a few
Saffron strands – a few
Sugar – 2 tblsp

How we do it:

Soak the almonds in hot water. Skin the blanched almonds and slice them.

Soak the rice in some water and rest for an hour. Drain and grind the rice with just a little water. It should be a course mix and not a fine paste.
 

 

Boil the milk in a thick bottomed or non-stick pan. Once the milk boils, lower the flame and add the rice mixture. Keep stirring while adding the rice to ensure that no lumps are formed. Keep cooking until the milk thickens. Now add the sugar.

You can add more sugar if you want the phirni to be sweeter but take into account the sweetness of the mangoes too.

Keep cooking for a few more minutes till the mixture gets thick.

You can see how the texture changes.

Turn off the flame and add the mango puree to the phirni. You can puree fresh mangoes or use readymade pureed mangoes.
 

Pour the phirni into small cups or bowls and let it set. Garnish with some mango puree, saffron strands and the almonds

 

Recipe adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor’s Khana Khazana

Love to hear what you think!

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