Creamy, flavourful, and delicious – this vegan rice kheer hits just the right spot in every spoon. It is perfect for any time sweet cravings or for any festive occasion. If you love Indian desserts, if you are a vegan or just want to reduce your dairy consumption, this recipe is for you.
Also check out our other Indian dessert recipes – Quick & Easy Rasmalai, Sooji Halwa, Ghewar.
Story Time
I have a partial sweet tooth. I love Indian sweets a lot – from gulab jamuns to Ghewar, from Besan Ladoos to Halwa, I want all. But I can’t have a lot of cakes, brownies or chocolates. I like them too but only when I am craving.
Since I started reducing my dairy consumption because I am on my way to becoming a vegan, I always think that how will I enjoy my favorite Indian desserts. How will I make them vegan? Will they taste equally good with vegan substitutes? I even thought that I will reduce my dairy consumption for the most part of the year and enjoy these sweet Indian delicacies only during the festivals. That allowed I guess 🙂
But now I started making those Indian desserts vegan. Let’s see how far I can go. I started with the easiest and the most popular Indian dessert – Kheer (rice pudding or milk rice). To my surprise, the vegan version turned out quite nice. it is rich and creamy and the texture is exactly like the kheer made of cow’s milk. It is delicious. You must try it. I am sure you are going to enjoy it.
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What is Rice Kheer?
Rice kheer is a popular Indian dessert recipe. In this recipe, rice is cooked in milk for 1 to 2 hours till it becomes rich and creamy. It is flavored with cardamom powder, saffron, rose water or with some spices, etc. It tastes amazing when garnished with some chopped dried fruits like almonds, cashews, and raisins.
It is quite an easy and popular dessert recipe to make on festive occasions or when guests come over.
What type of rice is best for kheer?
You can make kheer with any kind of rice that you have at home. Just make sure to cook it first in the water. It tastes best with short-grain rice which is usually used for khichri too. There is no problem if you don’t have any short-grain rice. Just mash the cooked rice a little before making kheer.
Easy Swaps
- Milk: Instead of coconut milk, you can use a combination of coconut milk and any other plant based milk like oat milk. You can use homemade coconut milk too.
- Sugar: Instead of refined sugar, you can add brown sugar or jaggery too. If you prefer liquid sweetened, you can even use that.
- Rice: If you don’t eat rice, you can even use dalia (broken wheat) in this recipe.
Is this recipe vegan?
Yes. Of course.
This is a vegan and completely plant-based Indian dessert (Kheer). I did not make it using dairy or cow’s milk. But if you are a vegetarian or non-vegetarian, you can simply replace the vegan milk with any dairy milk of your choice.
Let me suggest some vegan recipes from the page – Mini Mango Cheesecake, Fudgy Chocolate Brownie, Mango Smoothie.
How to get rid of the strong Coconut Flavour in the recipe?
Coconut has a strong flavor that can easily dominate the recipe. Some people like that but some don’t. I like coconut flavor but it should be well balanced. It should be mild and not over-powering.
The base of this recipe is coconut milk which can get dominating. But here are a few ways by which you can minimize the strong coconut flavor:
- Use coconut milk which is more diluted or has less consistency of coconut in it. Check the pack ingredients and choose the one with less than 60% coconut in it. We need mild flavored coconut milk.
- Balance the flavor of coconut milk by combining it with another vegan or plant-based milk like oat milk. My preferred vegan milk is Oatly Barista edition.
- Add a pinch of baking soda. Baking soda reacts with coconut milk and neutralizes the flavor. But don’t add a lot of it else you will get the taste of baking soda in your recipe.
- Add some other ingredients to balance out the coconut flavor and taste. Ingredients like cardamom powder, rose water, nuts and raisins balance the strong coconut flavor.
How to store Kheer?
You can easily store this kheer in an air-tight container. Refrigerate and it can be used for up to 5-7 days. It thickens on refrigeration. You can eat it like that or simply heat it with a little bit of vegan milk. Cook for a few minutes to balance the flavor and enjoy.
That’s it, my dear friend. You are all ready to make this Indian vegan dessert at home – Kheer. It is one of the best Indian vegetarian sweets and dessert recipes. It is perfect whenever you crave something sweet. So, grab all the ingredients because you are ready to make a delicious, everyone’s favorite sweet recipe.
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Happy Cooking.
Love from us
Richa & Jatin
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