The Rabri, also called Lachha rabdi in Hindi, is a rich, creamy, and sweet recipe from Northern India.
The milk is cooked until it reduces to a thick pudding-like consistency, then is flavored with cardamom, jaggery, saffron (kesari) and the dried fruits (usually pistachios and cashews) of your choice.
Rabri is served hot or cold, either as a dessert on its own or as an ingredient in other cheese-based sweets such as rasabali, chhena kheeri, and khira sagara.
It was banned in Calcutta in 1965 during an economic recession due to its excessive use of milk.
Rabri is a traditional dish of the Holi festival, the Indian Hindu festival of colors.
Due to the presence of saffron, it has a predominance of yellow color, and during the Holi Festival, yellow is used to heal from illness or as protection from physical problems.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Indian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 4 1/4 cups whole milk
- 2 1/2 oz jaggery (or sugar)
- 3 tsps cardamom (powdered)
- 1 packet saffron
- 1 tsp rose water
- to taste dried fruits
Steps
In a pot, preferably a wok, simmer the milk until it reduces (in 1 hour it will reduce to about 1/4 of the initial volume).
Add the jaggery (or sugar), cardamom, and saffron.
Stir and scrape the layer that forms on top of the milk to the side.
After about 1 hour, add the rose water and mix with the milk layer that was set aside.
Serve with pistachios and cashews (or the dried fruits you prefer), soaked in hot water for 30 minutes beforehand.
*Holi Festival
The Holi Festival is celebrated in the month of Phalguna according to the Hindu calendar, which corresponds to the month of March according to the English calendar.
🌺It is also an important Thanksgiving festival as the crops in the fields are ready to be harvested. People celebrate the beginning of the spring season.
🌺The festival begins with the lighting of a bonfire the night before, known as Holika Dahan, where Holika is the name of a demon from Hindu scriptures and it celebrates the victory of good over evil.
The morning after, the festival erupts into a carnival of colors.
🌺People throw Indian powders, which in the original tradition are composed of plants and spices, including turmeric.
The act of throwing colored powders serves to keep the spirit of festivity and carefree alive, but not only that: each color has its meaning and to make the rite work, the powders must stick to people.
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Jaggery is a block sugar made from cane juice and sometimes from palm sap. You can buy it online.
