Broken wheat, also known as ‘dalia’ in northern parts of India, is available in many sizes. We have grown up seeing our mothers and grandmas pound wheat at home and separate the large crystals from the finer flour. Now most of us buy this from grocery stores. This is used extensively on most auspicious days to prepare Lapsi which is a sweet dish made with broken wheat, jaggery and lots of ghee. Extremely handy, broken wheat is used to make delicious snacks like upma and idli, and sweets such as lapsi and kheer. Here is the kheer recipe from our Ayurvedic cookbook, Sukham Ayu – a simple, delicious and healthy dessert.

Ingredients:

• Broken wheat ¼ cup
• Cow’s milk 3½ cups
• Almonds and pistachios 6-7 each
• Saffron (optional) 8-10 strands
• Nutmeg powder a pinch
• Cardamom powder ¼ tsp
• Powdered rock sugar 4 tbsp
• Cow’s ghee 1 tsp

Method:

1. Soak the almonds and pistachios for 1 hour, peel and sliver.
2. Prepare saffron by rubbing it in 1 tsp warm milk until the milk turns orange. Set aside.
3. In a wok, heat ghee and sauté the broken wheat over low flame for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a vessel that fits into a pressure cooker, add 1 cup water and cook for up to 3 whistles.
4. In a thick bottomed pan, bring the milk to a boil and allow to simmer for 4-5 minutes. Now add the cooked wheat and sugar and continue cooking over low flame for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid the grain sticking to the bottom. Adjust sugar as per preference.
5. Stir the prepared saffron into the kheer along with slivered nuts, nutmeg and cardamom powders and switch off flame.
6. Serve in small dessert bowls, either warm or at room temperature.

Our Broken Wheat Kheer recipe was featured by Chitra Amma on her blog and was covered in Lokvani online magazine.