Please wait, the site is loading...

Saffron yogurt phirni


Makes: 8 small pots
timePrep time: 15 mins
timeTotal time:
Saffron yogurt phirni
Recipe photograph by Kris Kirkham

Saffron yogurt phirni

Serve with chopped pistachios, almonds or a chopped mango

Makes: 8 small pots
timePrep time: 15 mins
timeTotal time:

Rate this recipe
Print Print

Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
102Kcal
Fat
5gr
Saturates
3gr
Carbs
10gr
Sugars
6gr
Fibre
0gr
Protein
5gr
Salt
0.1gr

Anjum Anand

Anjum Anand

Anjum is a British-Indian cook with a passion for healthy food and incredible Indian flavours. She has written eight colourful cookery books showcasing authentic and vibrant Indian dishes

See more of Anjum Anand’s recipes
Anjum Anand

Anjum Anand

Anjum is a British-Indian cook with a passion for healthy food and incredible Indian flavours. She has written eight colourful cookery books showcasing authentic and vibrant Indian dishes

See more of Anjum Anand’s recipes

Ingredients

  • 40g basmati rice
  • 1 litre whole milk
  • a good pinch of saffron strands
  • 5 cardamom pods, seeds ground
  • 4 tbsp sugar, or to taste
  • 2 tbsp Greek-style natural yogurt

Step by step

Get ahead
Make these up to 2 days ahead, cover and chill. Remove from the fridge 1 hour before serving for the best flavour.
  1. Soak the basmati rice in cold water for 1 hour, then drain and dry completely on kitchen paper.
  2. Pour 900ml of the milk into a wide, thick-bottomed saucepan. Add the saffron. Place on the stove and heat up, then gently simmer the milk until it has reduced to 600ml. This will take about 15 minutes. You will need to stir the milk often, scraping the base of the pan to make sure the milk doesn't catch and burn. If the heat is too high, the milk will rise up in the pan and boil over, so keep an eye on it.
  3. Meanwhile, set aside 1 teaspoon of the soaked rice in a small bowl. Grind the rest of the rice in a spice grinder or mini food processor until it is a coarse powder. Mix this with the remaining 100ml cold milk and set aside.
  4. Once the milk has reduced, pour the ground rice mixture into the hot reduced milk, also adding the reserved soaked rice grains, whisking well so that clumps don't form. Keep cooking and stirring for 10 minutes or so over a moderate heat until the mixture is slightly thickened and has a smooth coating consistency like a custard.
  5. Add the cardamom and sugar to the pan and keep stirring until the mixture has thickened, another 5-7 minutes or so.
  6. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool to room temperature, then stir in the yogurt. Taste and adjust the sweetness if you wish, bearing in mind that, as it cools, the sugar will taste less pronounced.
  7. Pour into little individual pots (about 100ml capacity each) or a larger shallow dish (about 600ml capacity), cover with clingfilm and chill overnight in the fridge. Serve garnished with the nuts or mango or both.
Chef quote
Phirni is a typical Holi dessert, made the day before and often set in little clay pots that then continue to absorb the water and make the phirni even creamier. I have added some yogurt into these, which gives the phirni a subtle, more complex and interesting flavour, but also balances the sweetness of typical Indian desserts. Make these a day or even two in advance. I often chop up some mango and add on top – the musky sweetness really works with this dessert. Alternatively, top with slivered almonds and chopped pistachios.

You might also like...


We value your privacy

We use cookies to help give you the best experience on our site and to allow us and third parties to customise the marketing content you see across websites and social media. For more information see our cookie policy.

Cookie Preference Centre

Learn more about what each cookie category does and choose your settings (toggle right to opt in or left to opt out). Cookie policy


Strictly Necessary

These technologies are needed to enable our websites and apps to run and to keep it secure.

Sainsbury's Magazine

These technologies tell us how customers use our sites and apps and provide information to help us improve the website, apps and your browsing experience.

Cookie name Duration
PHPSESSID Until the browsing session ends
device_view 1 month
viewedRecipes 1 year
subscription-{popup-version-date}-PopupClosed 12 days

Vimeo

Enables Vimeo videos on the site

Cookie name Duration
_derived_epik 1 year

Constant Commerce

Enables shopping tools for recipe ingredients

Cookie name Duration
cc_a_h 10 years
cc_a_s Until the browsing session ends

DoubleClick

DoubleClick Digital Marketing (DDM) is an integrated ad-technology platform that enables us to more effectively create, manage and grow high-impact digital marketing campaigns.

Cookie name Duration
DSID 10 days
IDE 1 year
RUL 11 months

Performance/Analytics

These technologies tell us how customers use our sites and apps and provide information to help us improve the website, apps and your browsing experience.

Google

Google Analytics tell us how customers use our sites and apps and provide information to help us improve the website, apps and your browsing experience.

Cookie name Duration
__gads 13 months
gadsTest Until the browsing session ends
_ga 28 months
_gat 1 minute
_gid 1 day
1P_JAR 1 month
ANID 10 days
CONSENT 18 years
NID 6 months
__Secure-3PAPISID 2 years
__Secure-3PSID 2 years
__Secure-3PSIDCC 1 year

Marketing/Targeting

These technologies help us decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you. We use this data to customise the marketing content you see on websites, apps and social media. They also help us understand the performance of our marketing activities. These cookies are set by us or our carefully-selected third parties.

Pinterest

Pinterest conversion tracking gathers conversion insights and builds audiences to target based on actions our visitors have taken on the site.

Cookie name Duration
_pinterest_ct_rt 1 year
_pinterest_ct_ua 1 year
_pin_unauth 1 year

Outbrain

These technologies tell us how customers use our sites and apps and provide information to help us improve the website, apps and your browsing experience.

Cookie name Duration
outbrain_cid_fetch 5 minutes
adrl 5 weeks
apnxs 6 weeks
criteo 2 months
obuid 6 months

Twitter

Twitter conversion tracking enables us to measure our return on ad spend by tracking the actions people take after viewing or engaging with our ads on Twitter.

Cookie name Duration
personalization_id 2 years
muc 2 years
ads_prefs 5 years
auth_token 5 years
dnt 5 years
guest_id 2 years
twid 5 years