Shir Berenj — Milk Rice Pudding with dates

Name: Shir Berenj — Milk Rice Pudding with dates
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: persian
Ingredients: 100 g basmati rice; 700 ml halal-certified milk; 350 ml water; 50 g sugar; 15 ml halal-certified culinary rose water; 1 g ground cardamom; 40 g dates

Shir Berenj — Milk Rice Pudding with dates. Independently written modern Persian halal variation, with broad culinary inspiration from Najmieh Batmanglij, Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern…

100 g basmati rice
700 ml halal-certified milk
350 ml water
50 g sugar
15 ml halal-certified culinary rose water
1 g ground cardamom
40 g dates

Rinse rice until water is almost clear. Remove stones and chop the dates finely.
Simmer rice in measured water for 15 minutes until mostly absorbed. Add milk gradually, stirring to prevent sticking.
Simmer gently for 20–25 minutes, stirring often, until rice is fully soft and mixture is creamy. Add sugar, cardamom and variation ingredient; cook for 3 minutes.
Stir in rose water and divide into four bowls. Cool rapidly and refrigerate at 4 °C within 1 hour; use within 24 hours.
Photo: Ross Berteig from Monrovia, California, USA — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rice_pudding_cinnamon.jpg Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Resized and converted to JPEG; no crop. Milk rice pudding from another tradition illustrates the pudding texture; pictured cinnamon is not included, while this recipe uses rose water, cardamom and fruit or nuts.