Apple Kheer

Happy Raksha Bandhan to all my dear brothers! Here is my sweet treat for this special occasion. 

About two years ago, I had come across this recipe in tarladalal.com and I did it for mothers day with just 2 teaspoons of sugar as my mom is diabetic. Now I have altered it with a little extra sugar for taste and added in more nuts, for the richness!

INGREDIENTS:

• Milk - 1 litre
• Apples - 3 medium
• Sugar - 1/2 cup or more according to your taste
• Almonds - 10
• Pistachios - 10
• Cardamom powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Saffron strands - 3 - 5

METHOD:

1. Soak almonds in warm water for 15 minutes, remove the skin and finely chop them. Finely chop the pistachios and keep the nuts aside
2. In a heavy bottomed wide pan, boil milk in medium to high flame. This takes about 10 minutes
3. Take two to three tablespoons of warm milk and soak the saffron strands in them. Keep aside
4. Reduce the flame to low-medium and keep stirring the milk. Scrape the sides of the pan in between and stir in the contents
5. Continue this till the milk reduces to half. This takes about 20 minutes
6. In the meanwhile, core and peel the apples. You can either finely chop them or grate them
7. Cook the apples with a cup of water on a medium flame, till the apples get soft (about 10 minutes)
8. Add sugar to the milk that is reduced to half, mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes
9. Drain water from the cooked apples and add the apples to the milk-sugar mixture
10. Finally add the chopped nuts, saffron strands soaked in milk and mix well. Switch off the flame
11. You can either serve this kheer warm or chilled

NOTES:

• You can add a quarter cup of condensed milk to the boiled milk and this will thicken the milk faster. But make sure to reduce the sugar accordingly