My favorite dessert as a kid was kheer. On Sundays, when my parents would take me to Gurudawara (place of worship), I would hope that they would serve kheer during Langar (vegetarian meal served after prayer). Not the rice kheer, but the seviyan kheer, the one made with with vermicelli noodles. Oh, I just loved it.
A lot of people compare kheer to rice pudding, but I think they’re totally different. Kheer is so much better. The ghee and the cardamom give kheer a completely different flavor.
Now that I no longer eat dairy or gluten, I decided to attempt a Paleo Kheer using spaghetti squash strands in place of vermicelli and coconut milk in place of regular milk. It was so good – truly. Rob can vouch for me. He ate a big bowl of it and when he was done, I told him there was spaghetti squash in his dessert. He was shocked.
Sometimes, I wonder if going paleo has made my tastebuds different from the rest of the world, which is why I’m glad I have my non-paleo hubby to taste test for me. While it’d be great if he ate paleo all the time for his health, at least he’s useful in this way (just kidding, babe!).
So, he liked it. He liked it a lot, which makes me think that you’ll like it too – whether or not you’re into paleo.
Spaghetti Squash Kheer (Indian Dessert)
Spaghetti Squash Kheer (Indian Dessert)
Ingredients
- 2 cans Organic Coconut Milk full fat
- 3 cups of spaghetti squash strands
- 1 tablespoon Grassfed Organic Ghee or coconut oil
- 1 + tsp freshly ground cardamom seeds remove pod, just use seeds, adjust to taste
- 2-3 + tbs Raw Honey adjust to taste (I think raisins add sweetness, but the hubby likes it SWEET)
- Golden raisins
- Sliced almonds
Instructions
- Prepare spaghetti squash using the oven method (below) to achieve “noodles”.
- Heat ghee in pan and stir-fry the dry spaghetti squash strands. Then, stir-fry nuts and raisins.
- In another saucepan, add coconut milk and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly, add honey, ground cardamom and stir.
- After about 10-15 minutes, once the milk has thickened a bit, add the ghee-coated spaghetti strands. Stir for a few more minutes, garnish with ghee-coated nuts and raisins and then serve.
To prepare squash using the oven method:
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and brush on some ghee to the cut sides.
- Place squash cut side down in a baking dish.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until you can easily pierce the skin with a knife (cooking time depends on size of squash).
Jasmin says
Thank you for this recipe!! It tastes amazing, I can have Kheer again!
My Heart Beets says
Jasmin, I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Whitney Lemons says
This is delicious! Thank you!
Just an FYI for anyone keeping their sugars low, I used swerve and replaced the raisins with more almond slices.
My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Whitney! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
W. Rauf says
I have been switching up my favorite Pakistani/Indian recipes for Paleo/Whole30 for quite a while now, but I never thought about kheer. This is great, looking forward to trying it out this weekend.
My Heart Beets says
Awesome! Can’t wait to hear what you think 🙂
Priya says
You supposedly don’t eat dairy but you use ghee? Yeah…that totally makes sense…
My Heart Beets says
Hi Priya! I eat dairy and I also eat ghee 🙂 Back when I did not eat dairy, I was still able to eat ghee because there is little to no lactose in ghee. If you search on the internet you will see that a lot of people with dairy issues can actually still tolerate ghee. You can always use another fat if you’d like!