Recipe: Chef Nayak's Banana Kheer

India must produce 5,000 types of kheer or more. But we are sure you have never tasted Banana Kheer!

Chef Abinas Nayak uses walnut milk and banana to give his indulgent slow-cooked pudding a lovely creaminess and sweetness.

His kheer doesn't require sugar and will give a special sugar-free touch to your festive spread.

Chef Nayak, who hails from Odisha, once worked for Infosys as a technology analyst, before he kicked all that up to enter competitive cooking.

Banana Kheer

Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the kheer

• 2 tsp ghee
• 3 green elaichi or cardamom pods, crushed
• Walnut milk (please see the recipe below)
• Walnut powder (please see the note below)
• Jaggery powder to taste, optional
• 1 banana, chopped
• Chopped walnuts, to garnish
• Edible flowers, to garnish

For the walnut milk

• 1 cup walnuts
• 3½ cups water

Method

For the walnut milk

• Soak the walnuts in 3½ cups water for 2 to 4 hours.
  Blend it along with the water to make walnut milk.
  Transfer into a bowl and keep aside.

For the kheer

• In a saucepan or kadhai, warm the ghee, cardamom and the walnut milk, over medium-low heat.
  Keep stirring.
  Add the walnut powder and keep whisking.
  Once the milk thickens, add the chopped banana.
  Check for sweetness and add a dash of jaggery powder if required.
  Stir it for a while longer, take off heat and transfer it into two dessert bowls.
  Top with the chopped walnuts and edible flowers and serve hot.

Editor's Note: For the walnut powder, lightly roast a handful of walnuts, and pulse grind it.

For a vegan kheer, replace ghee with coconut oil.

Chef Abinas Nayak is the winner of MasterChef India Season 6.