Apple Kheer or Apple Pudding

My son has just turned two a month back. He is getting super choosy about food as days go by. He refuses to eat foods that even 6 months back he used to relish. He grew very fond of egg yolks after we introduced egg to him at his first year, but now he does not like eating egg that much. As soon as he smells egg in any dish, he turns his face away. May be in our excitement of seeing our child growing up, we fed him too much eggs in his first year that hew grew bored of eating it. These days my son has developed a liking for rice pudding, but lest he grows bored of eating it too, I try to maintain variety in pudding preparation so that his interest in pudding remains intact. So instead of cooking rice pudding every time, I try adding different flavors into the pudding. For example, recently I prepared Mango pudding that my son liked so much that the otherwise fussy eater polished it off without complaint. 

When the first time I cooked Apple Pudding, I only grated the apples and mixed it into the boiling milk, but the acid in apple curdled the milk and turned it into chana. However, even though the whey water separated from the milk, the taste of the pudding was delicious and my son relished that with pleasure. Since chana is good for children, it was a nutritious pudding. However, grown ups may not like the taste of that pudding since many people do not like the taste of chana. So while cooking apple pudding for grown up people, I boil apples so that the acid becomes neutralized and it does not curdle the milk. The rich creamy taste of this pudding will not only savor the taste bud of grown ups, but will also please the taste buds of fussy little ones. 




Ingredients

• 1 1/2 liter whole milk 
• 4 small size apples (peeled) 
• 3/4 cup of sugar or less, depending on your taste
• 2 tbsp cashew nuts paste
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• Cashew nuts and raisins for garnishing

Method

1) Boil apples in microwave or stove top for 15 minutes. Drain the water and mash the apples. Keep aside.

2) Heat milk in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the amount of milk to half by cooking it on medium heat, stirring continuously.

3) Add sugar, mashed apples, and cashew nuts paste. Cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring continuously. Add grated coconut and cardamom powder when the pudding begins to thicken in consistency. Stir around.

4) Turn the heat off when the pudding thickens in consistency.

5) Serve chilled garnished with cashew nuts and raisins.