Recently a friend of mine shared this keto friendly Rabri or milk pudding. The recipe was quick to make and easy to follow so I decided to give it a try. Oh boy, it was a definite treat for the taste buds!
Traditionally to make rabri, you have to boil full fat milk and/or cream and cook it till it reduces to half, add sugar and cook some more to a pudding like consistency. That takes a lot of time and patience, both of which are sometimes scarce😉. So, if you are crunched on time, this recipe will come in handy.
Carb content
Milk is very high in carbs (about 11.8g of carbs in 1 cup of milk), which is fine if you are not following a keto or low carb diet. Since me and my husband on a low carb diet, a traditional rabri is off the menu for us. This dessert is also a good option if you are diabetic and watching your sugar intake.
This Rabri or milk pudding is made with a combination of heavy or whipping cream (33% or more M.F.) and ricotta cheese. The carb content with this combination comes to about 4gm net carbs, for a generous size serving. Being on keto, I don’t mind splurging on these many carbs for a dessert that TASTES THIS GOOD!
Sweet(ener) Talk
For the desserts that are to be served cold, like this Rabri, my sweetener of choice is erythritol/Monk fruit sweetener. It has zero carbs and sweetness to match regular sugar. Monkfruit sweetener has a cooling effect in the mouth, which works perfectly for cold desserts. For my hot/warm drinks and desserts, I prefer Splenda. To me it has no after taste, unlike a few other sweeteners. If you don’t have monk fruit/erythritol handy, Splenda is a good alternate, or you can use any granular sweetener of your choice.
When you add sweetener to the dessert, it’s going to release some liquid in the pan. Just cook it for a little while longer, while stirring regularly and you will have the perfect consistency soon.
Flavours
When you talk about Indian desserts, crushed cardamom is practically the quintessential flavour and this dessert is no exception! Green cardamom seeds have this sweet spicy flavour that elevates a dessert from plain to wow. In addition to the cardamom flavour, I added a few strands of saffron. Saffron not only adds a flavour, but a very distinct golden hue to the dessert.
Some other flavours that will work in this dessert are, rose flavour and some pink food colour, or almond essence and chopped almonds. Adding some mango puree, and yellow food colouring for mango rabri, if you are not watching your carbs is another sweet option.
Garnish and serving
I added crushed pistachios and dried rose petals for garnish. Thin slivered blanched almonds or finely chopped cashews will look and taste great too. Wanna go fancy, use vark or edible silver leaf!
You can serve it on its own, like I did or use it as a sauce for your rasmalai, gulab jamun, malpuas . Gosh am drooling while writing about these desserts😋
Ingredients:
1 Cup Heavy whipping Cream
2 Cups Full Fat Ricotta
½ Cup Monk Fruit / Erythritol or granular sweetener of your choice
Saffron, a few strands
1 tsp crushed cardamom seeds
Shelled and Chopped Pistachios, Rose Petals to garnish
Method:
Add cream and ricotta to a heavy base pan and bring it to a simmer. Use a spatula or a whisk to mix the two up nicely, so they make a homogenous sauce.
Add crushed saffron and the sweetener, while stirring at regular intervals.
Keep simmering for about 15 minutes, or till it reaches a thick pudding kind of consistency. It will thicken more as it cools down.
Take it off the heat.
Pour it into individual containers or a serving bowl. It makes 6 generous size servings with about 4 gm net carbs per serving.
Garnish with some chopped pistachios and dried rose petals. Refrigerate once it cools down a bit.
Serve cold on its own or with other accompanying dessert of your choice!
Meri Rasoi Se 