A quick and easy recipe of Kheera or sweet Pudding with Milk and Chhena, a Odisha speciality and one of the Mahaprasads offered to Lord Jagannath in Puri.
Boil the milk on low flame stirring in between till it reduces to half.
Add the condensed milk and the sugar, boil for 3-4 minutes. Add sugar according to your taste as the condensed milk is also sweet.
Meanwhile mash the homemade Paneer or Chhena with your hands for 1-2 minutes or you can just add the crumbled Paneer to the reduced boiled milk little by little while stirring constantly.
Add the cardamom powder to the milk and let it cook for 4-5 minutes and switch off the flame. Cooking it more might curdle the milk.
Break the Cashewnuts into small pieces,shallow fry them in hot ghee till light brown.
Pour the Pudding into small containers, garnish with sliced pistachios, fried cashews and saffron. Chill and serve.
Recipe Notes
Traditionally Condensed milk and Saffron are not added to the Kheera. You can also add the saffron while cooking the Kheera for more flavour and colour..in that case soak the saffron in 1-2 tbsp of warm milk.
If you make the Chhena at home remember to wash it nicely in a sieve under running water so that all traces of lemon or citric acid is gone otherwise it might curdle the thickened milk.
The Chhena absorbs a lot of liquid ..so make sure the thickened milk has enough liquid consistency before adding the Chhena.