Phool Makhana Kheer recipe is a delicious, creamy, healthy pudding made with puffed lotus seeds cooked in milk with cardamom flavor in an Instant Pot Pressure cooker or stovetop. Makhane ki Kheer is also the perfect vrat recipe if you are fasting during Navratri.
I had never heard of makhana until I came to the USA. Then, my neighbor from Bihar told me about makhana and its benefits.
She often made Spicy roasted masala makhana which I loved at the first attempt. Then I tried a couple of other makhana recipes like Caramel Makhana, Mint Makhana, Chocolate Makhana, Makhana Chivda.
What is Makhana?
Makhanas are popularly known as lotus seeds, fox nuts, Euryale Ferox, gorgon nuts, and Phool makhana. The puffed lotus seeds or the puffed fox nuts have high nutritional and medicinal values and are primarily grown in the states of Bihar in India.
Health benefits of Makhanas
Makhanas are packed with the goodness of protein, potassium, phosphorus, carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, iron, and zinc. These essential nutrients make this munchy a perfect go-to healthy snack.
Here are a few health benefits which will convince you to add them to your diet.
- An anti-aging enzyme in these seeds is said to help repair damaged proteins
- They are low in calories, making them an ideal snack for weight loss.
- Makhanas are recommended for diabetics too due to their low glycemic index.
- They are beneficial to those suffering from high blood pressure, heart diseases, and obesity due to their high magnesium and low sodium content.
- The protein and iron-rich Phool makhana kheer can be given to one-year-old babies as a quick dessert.
– Source food.ndtv.com
How to Make Phool Makhana Kheer Recipe in Instant Pot
Firstly, clean the instant pot thoroughly - the steel pot, lid, and sealing ring. If you have an extra sealing ring for sweet foods, use it else, milk may curdle.
Press SAUTE button. Add ghee into the pot. Once hot, add makhanas (lotus seed), and roast them in the ghee for about 4 minutes or until they turn light golden brown.
**Dont burn else burnt smell influences kheer.
Then remove ½ cup of roasted makhana and crush coarsely by pulsing them in the blender 1-2 times.
Next, add milk, crushed makhana, almond powder, sugar, and saffron to the Instant Pot. Give a quick stir.
Close the lid. Set the pot to MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK (Low Pressure) and set the timer to 10 minutes and Let it Natural Pressure Release (NPR).
Stir in the cardamom powder and nuts. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until it thickens a bit.
Lastly, serve Instant pot phool makhana kheer recipe warm or cold and garnish with pistachios and almonds.
Stovetop Pot Method
- In a heavy bottom pan add ghee, once hot add makhanas (lotus seed), and roast them in the ghee for about 4 minutes or until they turn light golden brown in color.*Dont burn else burnt smell influences kheer.
- Remove ½ cup of roasted makhana and crush coarsely by pulsing them in the blender for 1-2 times.
- Then add milk, crushed makhana, almond powder. Give a quick stir. Cook for around 8-10 minutes on the medium-low flame while stirring it occasionally. The milk will begin to reduce and the makhanas will soften and shrink in size.
- Now add the saffron milk. (saffron strands soaked in warm milk for around 10 minutes till they release the yellow color)
- Stir in the sugar, cardamom powder, and nuts. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until it thickens a bit.
- Serve makhane ki kheer warm or cold and garnish with pistachios and almonds.
Tips & Variations
- The makhana kheer becomes thick after cooling down, add warm milk to adjust the consistency while serving.
- If you dont have almond flour, take 10-12 almonds and make a fine powder in a blender. You can also skip almond powder in this recipe but it really gives a rich and creamy taste. Add 2 tablespoons of condensed milk or khoya if you like.
- You can also ground all 1.5 cups of roasted Phool makhana if you or your child doesn’t prefer to eat whole makhana.
- You can also add raisins and any nuts of your choice to this kheer.
How to Make Makhana Kheer with Jaggery?
You can use any sweetener of your choice for this makhane ki kheer recipe. If using jaggery in place of sugar, add it after the pressure cooking cycle because the impurities in jaggery can curdle the milk.
You can also replace regular sugar with brown sugar or coconut sugar.
More Desserts Recipes
- Badam Halwa with almond powder
- Milk Powder Burfi
- Carrot halwa instant pot
- Instant Pot Rice Kheer
- Chocolate Makhana
- Moong Dal Payasam
Makhana Kheer
Equipment
Ingredients
Measuring cup used (1 cup = 250 ml)
- 1.5 cups makhana /foxnut/lotus seed
- 2 cups full fat whole milk (or almond milk for vegan)[500 ml]
- 1 tablespoon ghee or coconut oil for vegan
- 3 tablespoon almond flour or 10 almonds powdered
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
- a pinch of saffron
- ¼ cup almonds and pistachios
Instructions
Instant Pot Method:
- Press SAUTE button. Add ghee into the pot ,once hot add makhanas (lotus seed) and roast them in the ghee for about 4 minutes or until they turn light golden brown in color.*Dont burn.
- Remove ½ cup of roasted makhana and crush coarsely by pulsing then in the blender for 1-2 times.
- Next add milk ,crushed makhana, almond powder ,sugar and saffron to the Instant Pot.Give a quick stir.
- Close the lid.Set the pot to MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK (Low Pressure) and set timer to 10 minutes and Let it Natural Pressure Release (NPR).
- Stir in the sugar ,cardamom powder and nuts.Cook for 2-3 minutes or until it thickens a bit.
- Serve warm or cold and garnish with pistachios and almonds.
Stovetop Method:
- In a heavy bottom pan add ghee into the pot ,once hot add makhanas (lotus seed) and roast them in the ghee for about 4 minutes or until they turn light golden brown in color.*Dont burn else burnt smell influences kheer.
- Remove ½ cup of roasted makhana and crush coarsely by pulsing then in the blender for 1-2 times.
- Next add milk ,crushed makhana, almond powder and sugar.Give a quick stir.Cook for around 7-8 minutes while stirring it occasionally.The milk will begin to reduce and the makhanas will soften and shrink in size.
- Now add the saffron milk. (saffron strands soaked in warm milk for around 10 minutes till they release the yellow colour.)
- Stir in the cardamom powder and nuts.Cook for 2-3 minutes or until it thickens a bit.
- Serve warm or cold and garnish with pistachios and almonds.
Notes
- Clean the instant pot thoroughly - the steel pot, lid and sealing ring. If you have an extra sealing ring for sweet foods, use it else milk may curdle
- The makhana kheer becomes thick after cooling down, add warm milk to adjust the consistency while serving.
- If you dont have almond flour ,take 10-12 almonds and make a fine powder in a blender.You can also skip almond powder in this recipe but it really gives a rich and creamy taste.You can also add 2 tablespoon of condensed milk if you like.
- You can also ground all 1.5 cups of roasted phool makhana if you or your child doesn’t prefer to eat whole makhana.
- You can also add raisins and any nuts of your choice to this kheer.
- You can use any sweetener of your choice.If using jaggery in place of sugar, then add it after cooking on Pressure cook/Manual (Low Pressure) mode else the milk can curdle or you can also add brown sugar or coconut sugar .
Nutrition
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D says
When do you add the whole roasted makhana? It's not clear to me. Do you add it at the same time when you had the crushed /blended makhana? Or at the end?
bhavana says
I have added whole roasted makhana with the crushed makhana itself not in the end.