Orange Kheer (Komola Lebur Payesh) combines the richness of milk with the refreshing flavour of fresh oranges. This unique kheer recipe requires minimal ingredients and yet tastes truly delicious.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Bengali Cuisine is known for its innovative use of fresh ingredients. Among the many unique sweets of Bengal, Orange Kheer (Komola Lebur Payesh) stands out for its perfect blend of creamy sweetness and zesty citrus notes.
This is not a very old kheer recipe, but rather a creative modern twist that likely evolved in Bengali kitchens, where citrus fruits are often celebrated for their ability to cut through sweetness. If you love Bengali sweets, try Chenar Payesh recipe also, a ras malai like kheer made with paneer.
The secret of this kheer recipe is carefully balancing the milk’s heat to avoid curdling with the acidic orange.
Ingredients You’ll Need
You need minimal staple ingredients to make this orange kheer.
- Full-Fat Milk gives the creamy texture to the kheer even without using corn starch or condensed milk.
- Oranges like kinnow or the any other local variety with a sweet taste. However, Australian Orange, Tangerines, Mandarin Orange, or Naval are great options too.
- Granulated White Sugar to taste.
- Cardamom Powder and Saffron Strands for colour and aroma.
- Chopped pistachios and almonds to garnish the kheer.
How To Make Orange Kheer
Prep Oranges
- Start with removing the skin of oranges.
- Discard white pith, seeds, or transparent skin covering the pulp.
- Using a sharp knife the cut the orange pulp and roughly chop to release the juices. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Boil Milk
- Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed pan and bring it to a gentle boil over medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Add cardamom powder and saffron.
- Simmer the milk over low heat until it becomes almost half of the original quantity and looks almost like a rabri.
- Add sugar and stir to combine.
Tip: The cheat trick to get that thick consistency in short span of time is to add corn starch slurry to the milk or condensed milk. This gives a thick and creamy consistency.
Allow To Cool
- Transfer the kheer to a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature.
- You can keep it in the refrigerator to chill completely.
Add Oranges
- Once the kheer cools down completely add the prepared oranges. Stir to combine. Serve orange kheer chilled.
My Tried and True Tips
- Allow the milk to become thick like rabri with a creamy consistency before adding sugar or oranges.
- DO NOT add oranges to a warm kheer. Allow it to cool completely for 2 – 3 hours before mixing oranges.
- Adjust the quantity of sugar according to the sweetness of oranges. If they are highly sweet, reduce the quantity of added sugar.
- For instantly thickening the milk add cornflour slurry or milk powder or condensed milk. Any of these will give the instant creamy consistency without simmering the milk for a long time.
- Orange Kheer tastes best when served chilled. So you can make it in advance and keep in the refrigerator.
More Indian Kheer Recipes
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Orange Kheer Recipe
- Heavy Indian Kadhai
Ingredients
- 1 litre full fat milk
- 2 medium size orange
- ¼ Cup granulated white sugar
- ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
- ¼ teaspoon saffron strands (kesar)
Ingredients For Garnish
- 1 tablespoon sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon sliced pistachio
- 1 tablespoon edible rose petals
Instructions
- Start with removing the skin of oranges. Discard white pith, seeds, or transparent skin covering the pulp.
- Using a sharp knife the cut the orange pulp and roughly chop to release the juices. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed pan and bring it to a gentle boil over medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add cardamom powder and saffron.
- Simmer the milk over low heat until it becomes almost half of the original quantity and looks almost like a rabri.
- Add sugar and stir to combine.
- Transfer the kheer to a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature. You can keep it in the refrigerator to chill completely.
- Once the kheer cools down completely add the prepared oranges. Stir to combine.
- Garnish orange kheer with chopped almonds, pistachio and rose petals. Serve orange kheer chilled.
Recipe Notes:
- Oranges like kinnow or the any other local variety with a sweet taste. However, Australian Orange, Tangerines, Mandarin Orange, or Naval are great options too.
- For a vegan kheer, use coconut milk. It tastes so good when combined with oranges.
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