Firni, the floral fruity dessert that's easy to make

Tired of custard? Try firni instead.

Phirni

Phirni or firni, with a lovely aroma of either kewra or rose, is the  of the most floral desserts I’ve come across. It does wonder to one's senses. In every way !And it is one I make when racing against time, which is pretty often.

It is a truly oriental dish, famous in many old towns, particularly those with walled cities. In Amritsar, as I am sure in Lucknow or Bhopal, it is served in a “kullar”—that environment friendly dessert bowl, made of clay, and emanating a lovely wet earth fragrance as it is taken out of a bucket of water. It is garnished with pistachios sometimes, and sometimes with rose petals. Dry fruits are optional.

What gives it that floral taste or fragrance is the essence  generally used. Either kewra—the botanical name is Pandanus fascicularis Lamk.—screw pine in English, and “thazhamboo” in Tamil. Or

rose, the  simple country rose that has a fruity fragrance.

Soak rice/broken rice for an hour

Here goes the receipe:

Broken rice(never mind if you have only whole rice)- 4 tablespoons full

Milk-Half a litre

Sugar-4 tablespoons

Essence- a few drops

Cardamom- two

Dry fruits optional —pista or almonds/raisins 

Fresh rose petals-- a handful

Grind in a blender with a bit of milk

Soak the rice in water for half an hour, grind it fine in a little bit of milk. Keep aside.

Boil M

Bring the milk to boil in a hard bottomed pan, reduce the flame to the minimum and add the ground rice, stirring continuously so that no lumps are formed. 

It will thicken to coat the spoon.

Five minutes later, take it off the stove, and add the sugar and the essence.

  

Once it cools, transfer it to serving bowl or dessert bowls—it will be great if you can find some “kullars”, and garnish, chill for six hours before serving.

Garnished with dry fruit and rose petals

As you can see, I have garnished it with rose petals which I have dried in shade, and stored in a glass jar.

But the fragrance , touch ,feel and taste of dew kissed deep punish red fresh petals, the desi roja, is quite something else. Uplifting!

Hope to update this with the firni in the earthen "kullars" whenever I lay hands on a few.