Creamy rich Indian rice pudding rolled into balls and coated in various toppings to make a perfect dessert that’s a hit at any dinner party. These kheer ladoos (rice pudding truffles) have an amazing texture and cardamom flavor! (gluten-free and soy-free)

These are an easy dessert for any festive season or for Diwali. I made this decadent rice pudding flavored with cardamom, which is basically Punjabi kheer. 

Then, I mix it with some cashew cream, chill it, scoop it into balls, and roll them in different toppings like pistachios, cocoa powder, almond slivers, rose petals, melted chocolate, toasted coconut, or anything else you like.

Ladoo are basically Indian truffles, and these are flavored with cardamom for a simple yet delicious dessert.

You can change up the flavor with things like cinnamon or vanilla, and you can play around with toppings and mix-ins to make all kinds of delicious variations! For extra decadent rice pudding truffles, melt some chocolate with a little bit of coconut oil in a double boiler, then coat them in the melted chocolate.

Kheer ladoo are great to serve either as a snack or dessert. They don’t need extra bowls or spoons, and they’re already portioned. You can also make them ahead of time, so you won’t have as much cooking to do on the day of your dinner party.

Why You’ll Love Kheer Ladoo

• creamy truffles scented with cardamom
• easy, make-ahead dessert perfect for Diwali or any dinner party
• versatile! Add mix-ins and toppings of choice to make these your own
• naturally gluten-free and soy-free

Continue reading: Kheer Ladoo (Indian Rice Pudding Truffles)

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Chai tiramisu cake has a delicious, moist, chai-infused cake with layers of cardamom cream dusted with a cocoa-chai topping. It is an absolutely fabulous fusion dessert perfect for Diwali or any special occasion! (soy-free with gluten-free or nut-free option)

We’re actually making a super quick cake for this chai tiramisu, instead of using ladyfingers. The rich, creamy textures of the cake and cardamom cream give you the decadence of tiramisu without any eggs or dairy needed.

You can make this with vegan ladyfingers, if you can find those, or you can use vegan cake rusks. Cake rusks are like plain biscotti available in Indian stores, and they work well as a substitute for ladyfingers. Just soak them in the chai, and use them for layering. Or, you can make this simple cake with just a few ingredients.

I heard you about wanting a cake that used a cream topping that didn’t need a freezer to set. The cardamom cream for this chai tiramisu cake sets up thick and spreadable at room temperature, no freezer needed.

Whether you make the cake from scratch or use one of the substitutions, this incredibly delicious chai tiramisu is a hit at any dinner party. It also freezes well, so you can make it ahead. Just thaw it overnight in the fridge.

Why You’ll Love Chai Tiramisu

• quick, easy, moist, delicious cake soaked in flavorful milk chai
• rich, decadent cardamom cream that sets up with no freezer needed
• cocoa-chai sprinkle on top for extra flavor
• soy-free with gluten free or nut-free options

Continue reading: Chai Tiramisu Cake (Chaimisu!)

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Dal Makhani is one of the most ordered Indian dish in restaurants. You can make authentic, buttery, rich dal makhani at home. It’s just as good as the restaurant version! Black gram and kidney beans are simmered in a creamy spiced sauce and is perfect for special occasions or a great dinner. With Instant Pot and Sauce pan instructions. (gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, oil-free option).

Love ordering Dal Makhani at restaurants? You’ll love this homemade version even more! This is adapted from my home-style dal makhani that’s on the blog and in my books. The difference is that this version has more spices, including some whole spices, which create more layers of flavor. 

This version of dal makhani is a little bit more involved than my home-style version. It has both a base sauce and a spiced oil. This levels up the flavor and adds a smoky, creamy flavor, like restaurants usually serve.  There’s also a lot more Kashmiri chili powder in this version compared to the home-style one. 

The home-style recipe is quicker and still delicious, but this one takes it up another couple of notches, simmering the beans in a deeply-flavored sauce.

Makhani means both “butter” and “like butter,” and the dish is called dal makhani, both because of the butter content and the creamy, buttery texture of the dal. The goal is to cook the beans long enough that they become soft and almost break down into the sauce, thickening it and creating a smooth consistency. For the right texture, I prefer to use a pressure cooker / instant pot, but you can also cook it in a saucepan. I included both methods in the recipe.

After cooking the beans, we make a delicious sauce with whole spices, aromatics, and ground spices, then add the cooked beans to it. Then, we prepare a spice oil with toasted fenugreek leaves, Kashmiri chili, smoked paprika, and a smoky burnt cinnamon stick. Burning the cinnamon stick for just half a second before adding it to give the dal its smoky restaurant-style flavor.

Traditionally, restaurants achieve this smoky flavor by using food-grade charcoal. They place a piece of hot charcoal in a bowl with oil, which immediately smokes. Then, they nestle the bowl inside the dal pot and cover the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. If you don’t want to use charcoal or burnt cinnamon, liquid smoke can also work.

Why You’ll Love Dal Makhani

• creamy, buttery dal with two kinds of beans
• deep flavor from the sauce and the spice oil, no dairy needed!
• flexible! Cook the beans in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop
• naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free with an oil-free option

Continue reading: Restaurant-Style Dal Makhani

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Ingredients for jeera rice

Let’s make jeera rice

• Washing the rice and soaking: measure the rice and add to the bowl. it is so important to wash the rice multiple times till the water runs clear. Don’t pop it into a sieve and run it under water, it doesn’t help. Rather, rub the rice grain and drain the water each time. It takes about 3 to 4 washes to get the rice run clear. Drain well and set aside.
• Now to soaking, measure the water 1:5 times of the rice. Add to the drained rice and let it sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes ( can go up to 30 minutes), drain the rice and save the soaking water. The cooking water is the cooking medium later as you have already measured it out. 
• Saute the spices add ghee to the instantpot. Saute them on low heat till they are aromatic and slightly change in colour. The ghee is now flavored with the volatile oils of the spices. 
• Frying the rice: Frying the rice on  low heat for a a few minutes coats the rice grains with the aromatic ghee. This process also ensures that the rice does not stick to each other when cooking. I prefer to add the salt at this stage so it is evenly distributed. 
• Cooking the rice: Pour the soaking water that we drained and set aside, back into the rice. This water is enough for the cooking process. Place the lid and pressure cook for 1 whistle ( the Indian pressure cooker measure). Remove from heat. Let the pressure hold and naturally release. This takes about 15 minutes off the heat. 
• Fluff and garnish: When the pressure is naturally released, use a fork and fluff the rice gently. Be careful as the steam is still hot.  Once this is done, the jeera pulao is ready to be served.

Can I make this recipe in the instant pot or rice cooker? 

Should I soak the rice? 

Key points to remember.

• Do not use excess water to soak the rice. The water as per the ratio is plenty.
• Do not drain the soaking water and add fresh water afterwards to cook, this changes the ratio of water for cooking the rice to fluffy separate grains. 

Can we make this recipe vegan?

What pairs well with jeera rice?

Mealprep and storage

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Milk is not one of my favorite drinks. I always disliked a cup of milk whether you add sweetness to it or not. So, when I was little my mum devised a few clever ways to make me have some. The one that I did not put up much of a fight with was for the warm cup of cardamom milk during the cooler months. As the slow autumn chill is coming through here currently, I had a sudden urge to try this elaichi doodh back again.

What is cardamom milk?

Cardamom milk is an excellent winter warm drink where steamed or boiled milk is infused with the aroma and flavour of cardamom. This elevates it from just being a drink to a copy dessert like feeling. It is also the same recipe called as cardamom moon milk.

Ingredients to make elaichi doodh

Milk: classic elaichi doodh used full cream milk. However, it is up to you to use skim, lactose free or half and half milk or plant milk like soy or oat. Ensure you have a thick bottomed pan to boil it in.

Cardamom: green cardamom pods are the ones used in the recipe. When you buy them,ensure they look deep sage green or slate green and are so fragrant as soon as you open the pack. The skin is discarded (use in curries or to make tea) and  the seeds are ground to add to the milk.

Sweetener: this can be entirely your choice. Honey, cane sugar, stevia, monk fruit or add none if you prefer it that way.

Let’s make cardamom milk

Making cardamom milk is as simple as slow boiling the milk and stirring in the cardamom powder and sweetener .

• Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods.
• Crush them well.
• Slow boil the milk till it is bubbly and frothy.
• Stir in the cardamom and remove from heat.
• Stir in the sweetener. If using honey, wait till the milk cools down a bit.
• Pour into cups and serve warm.

Will cardamom milk induce sleep?

Cardamom as a spice  is a soothing relaxant. Along with milk that is well known for inducing sleep the Cardamom milk combination makes it and excellent combination. It certainly is not a remedy for sleeplessness. 

Can elaichi milk be vegan?

If you are following this recipe with soy milk, oat milk etc,  the recipe naturally becomes vegan, however you don’t want honey in the recipe.

Can we serve this chillied?

Absolutely, pop them into small bottles and leave them in thr refrigerator. If using UHT milk, it will stay for almost a week with no issues.

Milk recipes from this blog

Kesar doodh – aromatic saffron milk

Mexican Atole | Hot corn drink

Ulundhu paal | blackgram drink

Jeera milagu Kashayam paal | spiced milk

Stay connected

Hope you are a better milk lover than I am and enjoy this recipe more often. Let us know if you have some soothing warm drink recipes like this that you absolutely love in the comments below.

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Stay subscribed and see you in the next post. 

Cardamom powder and dark chocolate add a twist to the traditional favourite coconut barfi; it looks good and tastes both familiar and luxurious. Did you know September 2 is marked as World Coconut Day to celebrate the sheer awesomeness that the fruit is? I didn’t know, so I simply had to share this interesting bit of trivia with you, along…

Baklava is an enticing Middle Eastern dessert. Delicate layers of golden filo pastry sandwich a filling of nuts and all of it is doused in an exquisitely flavored sugar syrup. This vegan baklava has all of that allure and then some more!

Who doesn't love baklava? This delicious pastry has it all: it's crispy, juicy, sweet and it has delicious nuts. It's so beloved, in fact, that it has nations, particularly Greece and Turkey, fighting to lay claim to its origins.

To me, one of the best things about baklava, besides that exquisite deliciousness, is the ease of veganizing it -- and making it.

Yes, you read that right. This really is a pretty simple recipe, especially if you have some experience handling filo pastry dough. And it takes barely minutes to put together. In fact, this was the very first veganized dessert I shared on the blog all the way back in 2007, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to update it.

The only reason why this recipe could be daunting to a beginner cook is the difficulty of handling filo pastry sheets, which are paper-thin and tear easily. But filo can also be very forgiving because you are piling so many sheets on top of each other and a tear or two will not break your recipe.

One more caveat is that you need to work quickly with the filo sheets, which tend to dry out once you get them out of the packet. Keep those two tips in mind and you are well on your way to making an amazing baklava--amazing those who will be lucky enough to eat it!

Why you will love this recipe

• Delicious. Cardamom and rose water make this delicate dessert even more alluring. There really is no gastronomic experience that comes close to biting into the layers of crispy but juicy puff pastry and into the nutty filling.
• Simple. Prep for this vegan baklava recipe is so simple--give the nuts a turn in the food processor and unwrap store bought sheets of phyllo dough. After that it really is all about layering the pastry sheets in a baking pan and brushing them with vegan butter or olive oil.
• Everyone will love it. I don't know anyone that doesn't love baklava and I can't imagine there is anyone who wouldn't. This is an especially kid-friendly dessert.

Ingredients

• Nuts. You can use any nuts of your choice here. I used walnuts and sliced almonds this time, but I've also used pistachios and pecans in the past and they are all wonderful in this vegan baklava.
• Sugar. Use any granulated sugar of your choice. You will need just a little bit for the nut filling and more for the sugar syrup. In the Middle East honey is often used in baklava and you can use maple syrup or agave nectar, but I think it's a bit of a waste in this recipe where you want the cardamom and rose water to shine.
• Spices: Cinnamon is more commonly found in baklava recipes but I love, love, love cardamom in my baklava--it adds an amazing aroma and flavor to this already delicious recipe. I also add in some nutmeg and ground cloves. You can keep it simple and use only cardamom. Or use ground cinnamon.
• Filo pastry sheets (also called fillo pastry or phyllo dough). You can make your own filo pastry but it's a long and difficult process and why bother when you can easily buy vegan filo pastry off the shelves of most supermarkets?
• Vegan butter or extra virgin olive oil. While most baklava recipes out there use butter, there are types of baklava made in Middle Eastern countries that use only olive oil and are naturally dairy-free. I make baklava with either vegan butter or olive oil, and this time I used melted vegan butter.
• Lemon juice. This cuts a bit through the intense sweetness so don't skip it. You can also add the lemon zest to the syrup.
• Rose water (optional). Adding a dash of rose water to the sugar syrup adds some extra allure and aroma to this dessert. You can skip it.

Variations for special diets

• Nut-free. Use pumpkin seeds and/or melon seeds for the filling and chop them in a food processor, as you would the nuts. You can also add dry fruits, including dates and apricots, to the filling.
• Gluten-free. You can buy gluten-free phyllo pastry sheets, made with rice starch and rice flour, at many U.S. supermarkets.
• Sugar-free. Make the sugar syrup with stevia. If using a cup-by-cup replacer like Stevia in the Raw you can simply replace the sugar with the same quantity of stevia. If using other types of stevia follow package directions for the correct substitution amounts.

Helpful tips

• Cover filo pastry sheets with a damp kitchen towel once they are out of the package. Keep remaining sheets covered as you layer them on. This will keep the filo from drying out and tearing.
• Lift the sheets carefully by their edges to prevent tears. But if the filo does tear when you pick it up, don't panic. Just layer it on as best as you can, brush with oil or butter, and layer on the next sheet.
• Make sure you pour the sugar syrup evenly over the baked baklava, taking care to cover all corners and the center. Let it cool thoroughly before eating.

Storage instructions

• Refrigerate: Store baklava in the fridge for up to two weeks.
• Freeze: Store baklava in an airtight container in the freezer up to four months. Thaw before eating.

More delicious vegan dessert recipes

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