Flavored milk is one of the favourite drinks in Indian subcontinent. It is also the base ingredient for various desserts. It's very versatile depending on the season. It is either served cold when used as a rose flavoured milk to beat the summer heat. Whereas, in winter, turmeric and ginger flavoured milk is used as an immunity boosting drink.

Basundi is one such favourite Maharshatrian desserts made by reducing milk and flavouring with saffron, cardamom and topped with nuts. 

It's one of our family favourites. As a child, I knew that it takes long to reduce the milk to almost half of its original quantity. But it is also quite tedious, as you have to watch the pot to make sure the milk does not spill over or char at the bottom as it will ruin the taste.

For many years, I was craving to have homemade Basundi which is not only thick but also has little lumpy bits of cream.  This gives the Basundi a nice granular texture.

Over the years, I tried various ways to get that granular consistency. Some recipes suggested to add ricotta cheese but somehow I could not achieve the original texture.
Few years ago, I managed to make it using Rice cooker but the inner pot of the cooker is quite thin so the chances of charring the milk at the bottom of the pan were quite high. One had to be very vigilant and often keep stirring the milk.

Then came the Instant Pot. I tried making Basundi using the Instant Pot and voila. Here I am with very quick and easy recipe of authentic Basundi.

Note :  The quantity in the photos is double of the ingredients as I was making this for Diwali. Hover over the images in the gallery for more detail.

5 minutes

Ingredients