By-Ear Kheer

Saw The Namesake today which a. made me a twinge sorry for passing up a chance to go to Russia this summer but to resolve instead to read all heretofore unattended to Russian literature presently on my shelf, b. resolve to go to India someday, c. in the immediate term cook something with cardamom in it.

Leftover rice in the fridge, and brown rice syrup and rose water in the pantry yet to be experimented with, I undertake a kheer, though without any official reference to what constitutes one. Only after to I peek at the internet to discover many fantastic variations, with sweet potato, bread, carrots, vermicelli, cashews, you name it.

C, who sat next to me at the movie and has a hissy whenever I eat anything curry in her presence, squirmed as the character Ashima, newly arrived in the States, topped a bowl of Rice Krispies with red chili powder and peanuts, but I thought it was a luminous moment of food as character development.

2 cups of leftover rice (I used white sushi rice because that was lingering around from last week's stirfry)
2 cups soymilk (or "spymilk" for the keyboarding-challenged)
dash salt
dash freshly ground nutmeg
fresh ground cardamom, 1 pod
2-3 T brown rice syrup
1 T rosewater
4-5 strands saffron

Added all of these things as I thought of them, while the rice and soymilk base was stirred pretty constantly over a low flame with a wooden spoon. I expected the saffron to turn the whole works more of a vibrant hue than it did, perhaps more was needed. I thought that the rice syrup added a good level of sweetness, though when I've had this dessert in Indian restaurants it is significantly sweeter (and more rich with coconut milk or full fat real milk). Also, the consistency of mine was more sticky rice than porridge out of preference. The soup-inclined would be advised to add more milk.

Toasted almond slivers finished off each serving, or, my serving anyway. Made 4-6 servings.

**Apparently the thing to do with the saffron, besides tripling the amount, is to crush the strands in a tablespoon of warm milk. Next time.