Sheer Kurma

Ingredients:

2 cups of whole milk
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 pinch saffron
2 cardamom pods, 1 whole and 1 crushed
½ cinnamon stick
½ cup dry vermicelli (broken into smaller
bits)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp slivered pistachios, plus additional
for optional garnish
1 tbsp cashews, chopped
1 tbsp almonds, sliced (plus additional for
optional garnish)
2 tbsp dry coconut, shredded
2 tsp golden sultana raisins (plus additional
for optional garnish)
3 dry dates, soaked and plumped ahead of
time, pits removed, chopped
1/2 cup water

Method:

1 In a medium saucepan, combine the milk with the saffron and 1 cardamom pod. Bring to a boil slowly at medium-high temperature. Make sure it does not burn. Set aside and keep warm.
2 Melt the butter at a medium temperature in a separate small sauté pan with the crushed cardamom and cinnamon stick. Next, lower the temperature to a mediumlow heat and add the dry vermicelli noodles to brown slightly, until the aromas have released into the air and the noodles are cooked through.
3 Once the noodles have toasted, add water, raise the temperature to a medium high and cook until the water has evaporated.
4 Transfer the noodles to the warm milk; add the sweetened condensed milk, raisins, dates, and nuts. Now bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low temperature, cover with the lid, allowing the steam to escape and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5 Once the milk has reduced and the noodles have absorbed some of the liquid, remove from heat. Add the cardamom and nutmeg powder, stir, and cool. Refrigerate.
6 Transfer to serving dish and garnish with nuts and raisins.