Phirni is my dad’s signature sweet dish. He will jump at an excuse to make it. It works well for me since I don’t have to worry about dessert when we have unexpected guests 🙂
He has done his share of experiments ranging from the thickness of the grind rice…to the sweetness level…to the perfect yellowish creamish color.
Once perfected, I was assigned the task of getting serving bowls for Phirni. I would have shown him at-least 7-8 designs, but none met his expectations. Either they were too big…too small…too broad…or just plain NO. I finally got approval for two designs & apt size which I got made from a local artisan. The fact that he told me that the minimum quantity was 50 for each design didn’t stop me!

Serves – 8 bowls medium size. Time – 40 minutes + setting time
Ingredients
- Rice coarsely powdered – 100 gms
- Milk – 500 ml
- Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
- Condensed milk – 200 gms
- Almonds slivered – 8
- Pistachios slivered – 12
- Chironji/Buchanania lanzan seeds (optional) – ¼ cup
- Saffron/Kesar(optional) – A few strands
Method
- Coarsely grind(dry) rice in grinder. Be careful to not make it a fine powder
- Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan
- Once it boils, lower the flame and add rice gradually while stirring continuously
- Keep the flame on medium and cook till rice is completely cooked. Keep stirring continuously. Rice should take around 7-8 minutes to cook
- Lower the flame & add milkmaid and mix well for a minute or till you have the desired consistency
- Next add cardamom powder and give a nice stir. Switch off the flame
- Pour in to serving bowl or dessert bowls
- Garnish with dry fruits & Saffron
- Keep in fridge for 2-3 hrs to set
Notes
- Continuous stirring is of extreme importance since once milk thickens and condensed milk tend to stick to the bottom of the pan very easily