Holi or the Festival of Color is coming up. Not a Holi person. Never played Holi in my life. Me and my dad would hide ourselves behind locked doors and would refuse to come out until we were assured that all the friends with their buckets of colored water have left. Yes, I am not fond of Holi as a festival. But its a beautiful festival – literally. And Holi means lots and lots of yummy treats. Fried snacks such as these Mushroom Potato Fritters to delectable sweets like Pedas , or Kheer , Phirnis to yummy drinks like this Mango Lassi. You name it. Every household in India would stock up on these treats before the day of Holi so that, these could be enjoyed to everyone’s hearts content in the evening or after Holi parties. I made a Rose Pistachio Phirni to celebrate Holi with my family and friends. And those who don’t know what a Phirni is, Phirni is a North Indian dessert made with crushed rice and reduced milk and then flavored with saffron, cardamom, pistachio or rose petals. It is DELICIOUS. Phirni is usually served in small earthen pots either chilled or warm. Either way, you can never have enough of this Rose Pistachio Phirni.
This Rose Pistachio Phirni is made with ground basmati rice cooked in reduced full cream milk which is simmered and reduced till thick and creamy. Then flavored with dried rose petals, crushed cardamom, powdered sugar and crushed pistachios. Can you really beat that combination in taste?
The crushed rose petals add a very subtle rose fragrance which screams romance and delicacy. And not to mention, I went an extra step and crunched up some pistachio brittle as a topping. Enjoy my friends.
My two boys and my husband love Holi. Every year, they go out and color themselves beyond recognition, while I stay home and enjoy my me time. Read: Making something delicious in the kitchen while blasting the music. This year for Holi, I prepared a Rose Pistachio Phirni with a pistachio brittle. That Pistachio crumble idea came from my sister who lives in Chandigarh an dis an amazing cook herself. We were just exchanging ideas on phone and she said – why don’t you top the phirnis with some home-made pistachio crumble. And that’s it. She gave an idea and I ran with it.
INGREDIENTS:
- 5 cups Whole milk
- 1 TBSP Cardamom powder
- 1/4 cup Basmati rice soaked and then crushed
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 tbsp dried Rose petals
- 1/4 cup pistachio chopped
- 1 TSP Rose water
METHOD:
- Mix the crushed rice with 2 TBSP milk and make a fine paste. This will help preventing lumps when you add this to milk.
- In a non stick deep bottomed pan, heat the milk on medium-high heat. When the milk boils, add the rice paste and reduce heat to medium.
- Stir the rice vigorously to avoid any lumps and cook in low flame till the milk reduces, thickens and takes on a light caramel color.
- Add sugar, chopped pistachio, cardamom powder and crushed rose petals and cook till you get the right texture and thickness. Once the phirni cools down, it becomes thicker as well.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours so that phirni sets properly.
- Serve cold phirni garnished with chopped nuts and dried rose petals. I have served the phirni with crushed rose petals and a pistachio brittle
PIN for Later
This looks very doable! I’m going to try this soon and tell you how it goes.
Do visit our blog Kitchenpostcards, we love making Indian sweets as well! ❤️
Hello I too use to hide behind bolted doors on Holi. But we started playing with dry colour that’s gulal . It is fun to play with it.
According to ur phirni recipe u have soaked the basmati rice. Time? After soaking can we crush it in mixer or hand crushing?
These look so good! I’ve never heard of phirni, but I love the flavor combination of rose and pistachio so I really want to give these a try. Thanks for opening me up to something new!
Wow, now this is definitely something I will make. What an incredible flavor combination. I’m so excited to try it. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe. 😊
Hey Vandybandy! Good to know, there are people like me out there. Soak the rice for 30 mins or so and then crush them in a mixer. I’ll add this to the post.
Thank you Sakshi! I definitely will check out kitchenpostcards.
Yummy. A bit like payasam.
Beautiful presentation! These look so yummy and elegant!
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I will surely try it for our Holi get together.Do visit my blog if not an issue.
I have been to Holi and I agree, it is beautiful to look at but not necessarily be part of ! Love the flavors of the recipe, it’s totally up my alley.
This is a really gorgeous drink! I bet it smells amazing too!
Mmmm….your rose pistachio phirni looks absolutely fabulous! I wish I could take a sip right now. Next week I’ll pick up the ingredients to make this in my own kitchen and enjoy it with my husband. Thank you so much for sharing the sweet cultural backstory for this lovely recipe.
I have tried Phirni before in a restaurant with my husband and loved the taste.I would imagine your version tastes incredible with the cardamom and rosemary petals. I loved reading a little about your memories of Holi – thank you for sharing with us.
Interesting to learn a bit about the Holi traditions, I’m not familiar with it. This sounds like a tasty treat for the occasion!
I absolutely love your recipe! The ingredients are wonderful and it looks so flavorful. This is one I cannot wait to make..Delicious!
I am going to try this tonight! I only have saffron though, so I would use that instead of dried rose petals, is that ok? Also, any chance rosewater can be used as a substitute for the dried rose petals? For some reason, the flavor combo brings me back to Istanbul… 🙂
I love learning about new foods. The recipe sounds delicious and I’d love to take one of your mugs and sample the Phirni. The addition of the rose is very interesting.
I’ve never heard of Phirni before but it sounds like a delicious dessert. I love trying desserts from around the world!
I loved learning about Holi recipe, this is a colorful match for the celebration. Looks delicious!
I loved learning about Holi. I’ve seen pictures and it looks so fun. This recipe sounds so lovely and has all the flavors I love. Thanks so much for sharing it!
I am down for anything made with cardamom! This looks so creamy and comforting. Love your addition of pistachio brittle. 😋
This is an interesting drink that I can only imagine being good. This type of drink is completely outside of my normal culinary discussions, but it sounds great. I might have to give this one a try.