When Lochan Gyawali posted a picture of methi-ko khir in his instragram, I was excited to get the recipe and cook it for myself; I didn’t know earlier that khir can be made of fenugreek seeds. I grew up eating khir, mostly prepared during festivals and religious ceremonies, but made from either rice or sabudana (tapioca starch pearls).
He was kind enough to share the recipe from his mother. He particularly loves this khir and tries to make it often. According to him, methi-ko khir was mostly made during the winter in the past as it is considered high-energy food. The recipe is not common; a few bahun families make methi-ko khir. To make methi-ko khir is bit of a process. When he shared the recipe, he recommended me not to take shortcuts: “you can easily make out the difference between a methi-ko khir that is made the traditional way (with love as it takes a fair bit of effort) and the ones made hastily with short cuts.”
The khir has hint of bitterness from fenugreek seeds, and is delicious. This recipe is from his mother, Bulu Gyawali—all credit goes to her.
Ingredients:
200 grams methi (fenugreek seeds)
6 tablespoons milk powder
3 litres milk
120 grams sugar
½ teaspoon saffron
75 grams almonds, sliced
75 grams pistachios, sliced
75-100 grams raisins
3-4 tablespoons ghiu (ghee)
Directions:
Soak methi in water overnight.
Boil the soaked methi for about 5 minutes to soften it a bit.
Melt enough ghiu in a saucepan and fry the methi till it turns a bit brown and starts popping. Stir regularly with a wooden spatula to make sure that it doesn’t get burnt and is cooked evenly. Once it is fried, remove from the saucepan and sieve all the ghiu out in a stainless steel colander. Make sure all the ghiu has fully drained off.
Separately in a deep pan, boil milk. Add sugar. Add milk powder to thicken. Reduce the milk a bit stirring it constantly. Dissolve saffron in the milk.
Add all the fried methi devoid of any ghiu into the boiling milk. Cook stirring continuously until the methi is soft. Add more milk and cook further if the methi has not soften enough. Once the methi is soft and the milk sufficiently reduced, add the all the dried fruits and mix it thoroughly. Turn off the heat and decant into a separate container to cool it for 30 minutes. Let it cool further in the fridge and then serve/eat once it has chilled.
