• Rinse rice until water turns clear. Then soak the rice in enough water for 20 to 30 minutes. After 30 minutes drain the rice using a colander and set aside.
• Add saffron in ½ cup of warm water or milk and set aside till color changes to yellow
• Take a heavy bottom pan on medium heat. Add 2 tsp. of ghee to it and then add the soaked & drained rice. Also add crushed or powdered green cardamom pods.
• Toss the rice with the ghee and cardamom for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly until aromatic.
• Add milk to the pan and stir well. Set heat to medium-high.
• Let the milk boil. Stir in between so that milk doesn't stuck to the bottom of the pan.
• Once the milk has come to a boiling point, lower the heat to low and let the kheer cook for around 35 minutes on low heat. Stir every 4 to 5 minutes or so. The milk will reduce considerably after 35 minutes and the kheer would look thick and the rice will be completely cooked.
• Add in sugar and mix. Also add in the nuts.
• Add saffron to kheer and mix well.
• Cook kheer for 5 more minutes after adding the sugar and nuts. The sugar should dissolve completely. Don't worry if your kheer doesn't look very thick at this point. It will continue to thicken as it cools down.
• Remove pan from heat. Stir in rose water (if using). Garnish with more nuts and serve kheer warm or chilled.

Recipe Notes

1. Use whole milk to make the kheer. It makes it so much creamier.
2. To save time You can cook rice beforehand and add milk directly to rice and Start cooking on medium low heat.

Kheer in Instant Pot vs Regular pot
Making Kheer in regular pot does take some time & it needs continuous stirring to prevent the milk from getting stuck at the bottom.
Making Kheer in instant pot is a breeze as all you need to do is just dump the ingredients in the pot & press the Porridge button.