Rice pudding aka our traditional kheeer

When your baby is almost nine months old, it is a must for every mom to learn how to make rice pudding (in fact pudding of any kind from boiled potatoes to eggs etc). Babies need change of taste everyday as they get bored easily. I can't tell you for sure about all babies as every one of them come without a baby manual and they are all very different from each other. But if you have a super active baby like mine (say MashaAllah), then you will have to meet their demands by being active yourself. And trust me on this, they get bored by one toy or one room too so it's all about keeping them entertained by bringing out a little bit of change in their surroundings and menu every week. They will love it and it's good for their mental growth too. Monotonous routines can be depressingly boring for everyone, even for babies.
Enough said, let us come back to rice pudding. I am a pro at making ras malai (atleast that's what my family says) but i have always been afraid of making kheer. Then today, i gathered up my courage by looking at the little person's face in my lap and thought of making rice pudding for him.
It's easy peezy and you will love it.
Ingredients:
One litre milk, one cup rice (soaked for half an hour), water, one cup sugar, saffron essense 2 drops, crushed almonds and pistachio, 3-4 cardamon.
Recipe:
In a pan, boil milk and add saffron drops, sugar and crushed cardamom in it. Keep the stove on low heat. In another pan, boil soaked rice in water until soft and then grind them into a mush. Add it to the boiling milk and mix well. Let it simmer on low heat for about 20-25 minutes until it thickens.
Garnish with crushed almonds and pistachios. Serve cold. It's a way to go when u crave something very milky and sweet.

p.s: my son loved it even though he is not much into sweet dishes (and this is only because he has no sweet tooth yet).