5 Healthy Traits Of Kheer You Did Not Know About
Kheer is extremely healthy as it is made out of natural ingredients and is a much better alternative as compared with other sweet treats. The rice kheer is the most popular and rice being a good source of carbohydrate, helps to restore glycogen which gets depleted especially after exercising. Kheer has been a part of the Indian diet since time immemorial. Rice kheer is served to Gods as an offering as well. Even the mighty Romans spoke about the sweet kheer as their detox diet and stomach coolant. The calories are also lesser.
The Indian name for rice pudding is Kheer or Firni. While kheer is made from whole rice grains, Firni is made out of ground rice grains. Kheer is a very healthy food which is given to a child as its first cooked food when the baby moves to solids from liquid food. The kheer recipe is a very simple one which is prepared by boiling milk along with sugar with rice, tapioca, sweet corn, vermicelli or broken wheat. Different countries and families flavour this sweet dish in their very own style. It may be with nuts, raisins, cashews, saffron, cardamom, almonds, pistachios or any other dry fruits.
The healthy traits of the perfect kheer recipe
- Compared to other sweet items, rice kheer is a very healthy food alternative as it is made out of natural ingredients. There are 4 gms of protein as well as vitamin A and vitamin C in kheer. Not only is it low in cholesterol but also high in calcium.
- Rice is high in carbohydrate and helps to restore glycogen which gets depleted from body muscles post exercise.
- Milk being the prime ingredient, contains protein as well as carbohydrates. It helps the human body in the assimilation of amino acids which is necessary to perform important tasks.
- A very good alternative to tea or coffee, there is no caffeine in any of the kheer recipe.
Offshoot of kheer
At times kheer gets referred to as sheer. This means milk in Persian. It seems that probably the origin of the kheer recipe was in Persia where many had heard of a similar dessert called sheer birinj which was nothing but the same rice pudding. Kheer gets its different flavours owing to the presence of its flavouring agent which may be saffron, rose water or kewra along with the essence of raisins, almond, cinnamon or cardamom. It is believed that the Persian style of sheer birinj was originally believed to be the food of angels.
Serving style
During the hot summer months, kheer is refrigerated and served cold. Kheer can be stored in a container that is airtight for three to four days. However, in the cold winter months it is best to have it nice and warm. So go ahead, pour the kheer out into those fancy bowls, garnish it with style and serve.