Rice Pudding- Lucknow style People say it's good to be home. Still, within a few days of coming back from abroad you can find yourself yearning to go back. Photos are a useful- but food? Recreating an exotic dish is the next best thing to buying a plane ticket back.

Passport & Plate - Lehsun Ki Kheer Rice Pudding

India | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Within days of returning from my first trip to India, I had to find a way back again. I chose to recreate a dish cooked in a tiny kitchen in Lucknow, a Leshun Ki Kheer rice pudding.
Lucknow is not a city often visited by tourists to Northern India. Just beyond the Golden Triangle, the Mughal/Colonial town is Uttar Pradesh's hidden treasure. Tell someone (not from Lucknow, of course) that you're visiting and they ask why. Explain that you're on a culinary tour of this part of India, and they nod sagely.
'Oh yes,' they say. 'The food.'
It was there that I learned about the fusion of Indian, Central Asian and Mughlai dishes that engendered Lucknow's famous Awadhi cuisine- korma, kebabs and parathas.
On our final night we were treated to a meal made by Lucknow foodie Cyrus from Coquina. We had chicken korma layered with flavors of garlic, cardamom and cashew, paired with a unique Awadhi biryani. We typically see Hyderabadi-style biryanis, so seeing on a platter topped with silver evoked a different side of Indian cuisine- this was the food of the Nawabs.
The edible silver foil was exciting to eat. The metallic tang suited not only the taste of the saffron-scented rice, but somehow made the color itself, a sunny yellow, become more than a visual element.
To finish it all off we had a rice pudding with, of all things, garlic. Thinly sliced, blanched four times to remove all trace of odor.
A prize for whoever guesses the secret ingredient, our host Cyrus said. We thought almond, for who could guess at garlic in a pudding?
It was just the sort of thing to be expected in a cuisine full of surprises. No wonder I couldn't wait to recreate it within a week of returning home.

Lehsun Ki Keer Rice Pudding:

6-8 garlic cloves sliced thin (equal to 6 tbs)
1/2 tsp alum powder
3/4 cup Basmati rice
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups whole-fat milk
2-inch piece cinnamon bark
1/2 vanilla bean pod
1/4 cup dates
1-2 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom
Nutmeg and cinnamon for garnish

Prep:
Soak garlic cloves in water for 2-3 hours
Soak rice for 1/2 hour, set aside

Garlic:
Slice garlic (think slivered almonds) and add to boiling water with 1/4 tsp alum powder
Boil for 10-12 minutes
Blanch garlic and repeat above step, then blanch again. The garlic should be white and any odor should be gone. Set aside.

Milk:
Put milk into saucepan, add vanilla pod, cinnamon and dates and bring to a simmer.
Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes.

Rice:
Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to boil, add rice, turn heat to medium/low and simmer for 20 minutes
If desired, briefly pulse the rice in a food processor or mash gently for a different texture. (Tip from Chef Cyrus of Coquina Lucknow)

Remove dates from infused milk
Add cooked rice along with sliced garlic, vanilla seed scraped from the pod, sugar and cardamom.
Cook over low heat as long and slow as possible, until pudding is thick and creamy.
Remove vanilla pod and cinnamon stick.

Serve with a garnish of freshly grated nutmeg and cinnamon.