CARROT RICE KHEER / Guest Post

Hi friends,

               I’ve started this blog about a year ago just with a feeling that I would share some tried and tested recipes in my little space. At that time I was totally unaware of what it takes to be a blogger. And even now I’m not much aware of it. There are loads of things to be learned. I’m still in the process of learning. I’m not a consistent blogger, but again… this makes me happy. All was not well in the past couple of weeks. My son was not well. But now he is ok with the Grace of Almighty Allah. So here I’m back again with my blog. But this time it’s not me who’s blogging here. Guess wot…? It’s a Guest Post. The fact is I didn’t even know how these guest posts were made, would you believe. I’m such a dumbass. And then I came to know that we need to ask for a guest post to our fellow bloggers. If they are kind enough, we’ll get one. And I know all the bloggers are kind-hearted…rite? And immediately I asked Rafeeda for a guest post and she took no time to say ‘yes’.

               So friends ….. Here’s the first guest post on my blog from a very talented blogger and a good friend of mine. Yes yes… I’m talking about Rafeeda from ‘The Big Sweet Tooth’. We know each other since childhood. We were classmates till 12^th std, and then I came back to India to settle down here. And almost after 8 years or so, we got in touch thru facebook. Well…I really have no words to describe her. She is a very down to earth person and friendly to the core. She is not just a talented blogger but a super woman too. With a 9 – 5 job and 2 baby dolls at home, she still finds time to blog on a regular basis. Masha Allah. Her write-ups are worth reading. I wish I had atleast half of her writing power. Her dishes are simple yet mouth-watering. There are a few recipes from her blog that are on my to-do list and Kulfi Falooda and Tapioca Pudding tops the list. Now I’ve no intention to bore you with my dull speech…

Over to u Rafeeda…

                                                       …………………………………………………………………………

               Again another guest post, you people may be thinking??? J I know, I am somebody who cannot say “no” to a guest post, just like all the many who have said “yes” to my requests for a guest post! When somebody who has been associated to you since your childhood asks for a guest post for her little blog, I would be really rude if I tell her “no”, wouldn’t I?

               I’ve known Shaharban since 4^th standard. I would never call her my best friend as such. She was always my “hi-bye” friend. I was (and am) a character who has a small bunch of best friends but would be pally with everybody in the class as well as in the other classes. Shaharban was also one of them. Despite we not being “best” friends, we both have made it a point to still keep in touch through the social media network called “Facebook”. One thing I love about FB is the closeness it brings to people who have been in connection ages back. So there you go, she is still my friend! 🙂

               To the readers of “The Flavourista”, this is Rafeeda, a working mother of two daughters, who cooks and blogs as a part of a stress busting activity in my otherwise stressed life. Alhamdulillah, I have to say that the Almighty has been really kind to me as far as a lot of things are concerned, including my blog, “The Big Sweet Tooth”, which started at the beginning of this year with a lot of contemplation in my mind and has been moving well from then on.

               I have always adored Shaharban’s cooking skills from the time she would post her tried pictures in her profile, and I must say that she is one of the motivations behind me taking to cooking as a hobby. I had never liked cooking before, never means never. It was a chore for me to be done just like cleaning and washing were. But seeing her pictures pushed me to look into cooking at a different angle and I am now really surprised that I have my own food blog!!! I know, life can be really funny at times… 🙂 I really love her bakes, the elaborate cakes that she makes, which is not something that I have patience to do. But I’m taking motivation from her, and slowly may be I will be like her sometime! Hehe…

              For my sweet friend, I decided I would give her a sweet kheer – Carrot Rice Kheer, which was something that I had made for my office folks and was immensely appreciated. A very simple kheer, with little ingredients, that really tastes out of the world!! So moving off to the recipe:

Carrot Rice Kheer

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 ltr milk

500 gm carrots, peeled and grated

1/2 cup rice, soaked for a couple of hours and drained

1 tbsp ghee

A pinch of salt

1 can condensed milk

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

4 tbsp dessicated coconut

5 tbsp mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios)

Sugar as per required

Method:

Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Saute the carrots and rice for five minutes on medium flame. Pour in the milk with the salt and mix well. Close the pressure cooker and leave it on medium flame till one whistle comes. Reduce the flame and leave it on for half an hour. Switch off and allow the pressure to go by itself.

Open the cooker, switch on the flame back to medium. Nicely scrape the sides of the cooker to mix the malai well. Add in the condensed milk, cardamom powder and dessicated coconut and bring to boil. Crush the nuts in a mortar or using a rolling pin and add it to the kheer. Add sugar as required and switch off.

Serve warm or cold – both ways, it’s delish!!! The kheer tends to thicken as it gets cold, so add in some warm water to loosen it up…

This kheer is just too good, especially if you have guests around to impress! Thank you Shaharban for coming by and granting me to be your guest. Hope you enjoyed this post and also hope to see you more in action on your blog front.