SABUDANA or SAGO PHIRNI

SABUDANA or SAGO PHIRNI
Sabudana or Sago Phirni
 
Sabudana kheer is very easy and quick to make and my personal favorite (I've a sweet, or very sweet, tooth ;))

I was thinking of making something new instead of the usual Sabudana kheer and the idea of making sabudana phirni came to my mind.

Phirni is a wonderful, fantastically rich, creamy, silky smooth pudding that is a popular festive dish.

It's a creamy dessert which is generally made with ground rice combined with milk, sugar and some saffron strands for flavouring.
However my twist here is instead of rice I made this phirni with Sabudana pearls.
I thought that the unique and chewy texture of sabudana would accompany the phirni just as well as it goes when made in the form of the traditional kheer.
And I must say it was equally delicious.
Whether you're fasting or not, this dish is simple to make and delicious to taste. So lets see the recipe for this awesome sweet.

Preparation and soaking time: 30 minutes
Cooking  time: 60 minutes
Serves: 6
 
INGREDIENTS:
Milk- 1 liter (preferably full fat)
Sabudana- 1 cup ( soaked)
Sugar- 3/4 cup
Green Cardamom powder- 1/2 teaspoon

To garnish- Slivers of Cashews, Pistas, Almonds and few dried Rose petals
Few strands of saffron dissolved in 1 tablespoon of warm milk

DIRECTIONS:

Wash Sabudana pearls 3-4 times to remove the starch.
When the water becomes clear soak the pearls in water for about half an hour.

After that, drain the pearls and make a coarse mixture of sabudana pearls.
You can add 1/4th cup of water to make the grinding easy.

Meanwhile keep the milk to heat.
Once the milk comes to a boil add the crushed sabudana mix.
Be quick to mix it otherwise lumps will form.
If you happen to see lumps break them by pressing with the back of the ladle.

Keep stirring at intervals.
It'll take about 25-30 minutes for the sabudana mix to get cooked.
You will see the Milk mix will also start getting thickened by now.

Add sugar and cardamom powder and give it a good mix.
Keep scraping the sides of the pan to scrape off the drying milk and add in the milk mix.
Keep stirring at intervals otherwise the mix might stick to the bottom of the pan.

It'll take about half an hour for the mix to reach to phirni consistency.

Switch off the flame once the mix is thick.
It should be of custard consistency.

Once cooled it'll be more thickened.

Pour out the Phirni in either individual bowls or as you like.
Keep it in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Garnish with saffron and other slivered nuts.
Serve chilled.

Enjoy!!!!