Kheer Poori

First the score: How many movies did you watch this Pongal? I watched 5-1/2. Not in theatres. On TV. My butt is still sore from sitting all day watching TV. My un-mentioned resolution is to watch more movies, good movies and all of Balachander’s movies. But the DVD player needs to be fixed first. But hey, the mechanic is back. Jagan is back from the US. I hope he has resolved to get the DVD player fixed and along with that the alarm clock and all our wrist watches (I mean all the wrist watches that the family ever owned. I don’t have even one that works. Is that a sign?). I hope he has resolved not to give the gym and personal trainer his annual donation. Hey, it is not easy making resolutions for others.

I bought a Vivofit fitness band last week (just like fitbit but this one doesn’t need to be charged with a USB cable! That is way too much work to get a fitness band working) that I’d been eyeing for a long time for myself but gifted it to Jagan very magnanimously only to be told that he doesn’t really like wearing things on his wrist. He brought it home in its packaging. In my long history of gift flops, this one is number one. In another Freudian interpretation, maybe I feel guilty buying it for myself but feel good buying it for him although I subconsciously know that he may not be interested and I’ll get to use it.

Did any of us actually use the Vivofit?

Ahem… No, not yet.

Something that did become a hit was this Kheer Poori. The original recipe is from a beautiful treasure trove of Chettinad recipes called “Chettinad Cookbook”. I picked this book up a couple of weeks back and it has quickly become my favourite reference. I made this Kheer Poori as a “Welcome home” dessert for Jagan and he loved it. It is super simple to make and much quicker than traditional desserts. I like to serve the Kheer chilled with the crisp pooris scattered on top. You could let the pooris soak in the kheer and garnish with a few crisp pooris too. Either way it is luscious. This will make a wonderful ending for an Indian meal.

Prep time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients - Kheer

Whole Milk – 2 cup

Condensed milk – ¾ cup

Fine Rava/Semolina – ¼ cup

Sugar – 3 tbsp (adjust as per taste)

Ingredients - Poori

Wheat flour – 1/2 cup

Salt – a pinch

Water – as necessary to make a smooth, firm poori dough

Oil – for deep frying

Method

1. Prepare the poori dough by adding water little at a time to the wheat flour. Knead to make a soft, smooth but firm poori dough.
2. Pinch lemon sized balls of dough. Roll out each dough ball into a thin disc. Use a knife to make diagonal cuts in the disc to make small diamond shapes. Use the tip of the knife to lift out each diamond and place on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the dough to make more diamond shaped pooris.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, drop the diamond cuts, one by one into the oil but without crowding the pan. Deep fry on medium heat to a golden colour. Remove the pooris with a slotted spoon. Transfer to a plate. Deep fry rest of the diamond cuts in the same manner. Once cool, these can be stored in an air-tight box for a week.
4. Whisk together milk and condensed milk in a pan. Heat the pan and keep stirring often to avoid milk burning. The milk will reduce slightly. After about 10 mins add the rava in a thin stream and whisk vigorously to incorporate the rava into the milk mixture. The kheer will thicken quite quickly now. Keep stirring to avoid lumps. Switch off when it is nice, thick and creamy.
5. I like to serve this cold. Refrigerate kheer till it is chill. Kheer will thicken to a thick porridge almost. Stir in some milk and whisk to incorporate well. Mix in a handful of diamond pooris. Serve.