Rice Pudding with Saffron and Cardamom

'Maryam help?' she enquired, her yellow striped apron tightly wrapped around her waist, a rolling pin in one hand and her play oven mitt in the other! She meant business. Maryam usually sits on the kitchen counter when I cook, watching my every move, studying me, then emulating me.

Just last week I caught her arranging her cakes and cutlery on the window and taking a picture. She loves taking my phone and running around the house squealing- 'Picture Mummy? Picture.'

The window sill has become her favourite part of the house. She can sit on there for hours, reading a book, organising her play vegetables and cutlery or sometimes just laying there- 'Mummy, I'm so tired!' Yes, she told me that!

When she was younger and less mobile, I would strap her into the bouncer and place it on the dining room table. From there, she would peer at me, mesmerized by my every action- watching me as I stirred the wooden spoon 'click clack' against the side of the pan, observing the flicking of my wrists as I sieved flour or wondering where Mummy had disappeared to when I knelt down to open the oven. When I got back up- she roared with laughter, thinking I was playing a game of peekaboo with her.

Today she helped me make rice pudding, stirring the pot and looking a my face for signs of approval. 'You're going to be just like Mummy when you grown up.' I certainly hope so. Rice pudding was my favorite dessert when I was growing up, still is. When I went to study in London, every time I went back home, my Mummy would make this for me on the first day I visited.  She still does and I can never get enough of it. The aroma of rich saffron intermingled with earthy and sweet cardamom would embrace me like a warm blanket as soon as I entered the home I grew up in.

I have been known to eat this pudding for breakfast as well as dessert. I like to eat it cold with chopped puri, haphazardly mixed in a bowl. Maryam on the other hand liked to have her 'kheer' spooned on top of the puri. She bit nibbled at the puri like a squirrel, savoring each bite, not wanting for it to finish. She then licked the rice from around her mouth, relishing every last bit. Satisfied. Like mother, like daughter.

Oh...did I tell you we made this for Maryam's masi- my sister. She was craving it one night and I decided to surprise her the next day. She is pregnant after all and it's the least I could do for her.

Rice Pudding with Saffron and Cardamom

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice- soaked in water overnight
385 ml evaporated milk
150ml condensed milk
1/2 cup + 2tbs milk
2 pinches of saffron
1 tsp freshly ground cardamom powder
chopped pistachios and almonds

Directions:
Wash the rice 2-3 times in water and soak in water overnight.
In a pan, add the soaked rice and enough water to fully submerge all the rice. Boil the rice until it is overcooked and very soft. It will begin to resemble porridge and the water will start to dry up (about 45 minutes). Add to it the evaporated milk, condensed milk (I used 2/3 of the can but you can add more or less depending on  and fresh milk. Take 2 tbs milk and add saffron to it. Heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add this to the rice mixture as well as the ground cardamom. Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes, stirring often so the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. If it does, then put a heavy bottomed skillet underneath. Sprinkle with chopped nuts before serving. You can serve immediately or after chilling

Serves 6.