Sweet Potato Kheer – Somberi Series

To celebrate my 50^th post, I am posting an easy Somberi dessert recipe. This is so easy, so quick and tastes delicious. The khoa is the secret ingredient that elevates this simple fruit kheer to another level. The Khoa makes the kheer velvety, rich and luscious. I love adding un-sweetened khoa to my dishes. It is a wonderfully versatile ingredient. You should try it too. I've added it to curries and gravies with great success. I'll share a khoa based gravy recipe sometime soon.

Lately, I’ve been really swamped at work and haven’t had time to tell you too many stories along with the recipes. I know many of you were mighty relieved and I even noticed a slight upswing in my pageviews. But I’ll still tell these stories.

The very first time I made Sweet potato Kheer, it was for my husband’s pot-luck at office and it created quite a stir as to what exactly it was. You see the kheer had thickened to a halwa consistency by lunch time and my husband had to spin it as a kheer-cum-halwa. All for good, as the guy responsible for cutlery didn’t bring them and I hadn’t provided spoons either. Halwa is a lot easier to eat by hand than Kheer.

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 5-6

Ingredients

Sweet Potatoes – ½ kilo
Milk – ½ litre
Sugar – 1 cup (adjust)
Unsweetened Khoa – 4 tbsp (optional)
Slivered Almonds – a handful for garnishing

Method

1.      Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them into ½ inch thick rounds.

2.      In a wide pan, bring around half of the milk (1/2 litre) to a boil. Crumble the khoa and add to the pan. Stir well. Drop in the sliced sweet potatoes. The milk should be just enough to immerse the sweet potatoes. Cover and cook on low for around 15 minutes or till the sweet potatoes are cooked through and soft.

3.      Remove from fire. Let cool and run the mixture through a food processor/blender for a smooth consistency. Add a little milk if the mixture is too thick.

4.      Transfer the pureed sweet potato mixture again to the pan and simmer. Add sugar, taste and adjust the quantity. Mix well. Add some milk if it gets too thick. When the sugar has dissolved and it is a nice kheer consistency, remove from fire. Let cool down. Refrigerate till serving time. Serve topped with slivered almonds.