Saffron Dessert Recipes: Kheer, Kulfi and Saffron Rice Pudding
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Saffron and dessert were made for each other. That warm honeyed aroma turns simple milk and rice into something you remember. Here are three classics — and the one habit that separates beautiful saffron sweets from bland ones.
First, always bloom
Steep a pinch of saffron threads in 2 tablespoons of warm milk for 15 minutes before you start. This pulls out the colour and aroma so it carries evenly through the dish. Skip it and your saffron mostly sits there looking pretty. (More on this in our guide to cooking with saffron.)
1. Saffron kheer (rice pudding)
Simmer cooked rice in milk until creamy, sweeten to taste, then stir in your bloomed saffron and a pinch of cardamom in the last few minutes. Finish with chopped pistachios.
2. Saffron kulfi
Reduce milk with sugar until thick, fold in bloomed saffron and cardamom, pour into moulds and freeze. Dense, rich and far better than shop-bought.
3. Golden saffron rice pudding
The Western cousin of kheer: short-grain rice slow-cooked with milk, a little sugar, vanilla and bloomed saffron until spoonable and glossy.
The thread quality decides the result. Our Asuka Kashmiri saffron blooms deep gold with real aroma. Get the 5g jar →