Recipe Contest: Roh di Kheer

Chef Reetu Uday Kugaji’s recipe for Roh di Kheer, or Sugarcane Juice Kheer, is the recipe contest winner for August. The theme for the contest was traditional recipes from a region/town in India. With its gentle sweetness and creaminess, this Punjabi specialty is a favourite during Lohri.

This dish is a delicacy from Punjab where sugarcane is grown in abundance. The kheer is slow cooked with various aromatics that enhance the sweet earthiness of the dish. A speciality that is made during the winter festival of Lohri, it is considered to have a soothing effect on the stomach. Although traditionally made over a coal stove, it can also be made on a gas stove, on a low flame.

Roh di Kheer Recipe

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

8 cups sugarcane juice
½ cup basmati rice, or broken basmati rice
1/4th tsp green cardamom powder  
1 tsp almonds, lightly toasted
4 tsp roasted peanuts, skin removed
1 tbsp milk
Rock salt, a pinch

 For the garnish
2 tsp jaggery
1 tsp almonds, lightly toasted
½ tsp edible dried rose petals
2 tsp fried raisins (optional)
1 tsp fried cashew (optional) 

 Method

Strain the sugarcane juice through a muslin cloth.
Wash and drain the rice and set aside.
In a heavy bottomed deep pan, add sugarcane juice, and bring it to a boil. Add milk to it.
After a few minutes, the impurities will float on the top of the juice. Remove this using a ladle and add the rice.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 1-1 ½ hours till the sugarcane juice, stirring occasionally, until it thickens in consistency and becomes velvety and smooth. to it.
Add green cardamom powder almonds, peanuts and rock salt and mix well.
Remove from the flame and let it cool.
Pour into traditional earthenware pots or small bowls and refrigerate for an hour.
Garnish with jaggery, almonds, rose petals, raisins and cashew and serve chilled.

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