firni (phirni) a sweet milky dessert, to be eaten cold, made either with cornflour or rice flour or sometimes both and usually flavoured with rosewater and/or ground cardamom. The dish is decorated with chopped or ground almonds or pistachio nuts. Firni and variations thereof can be found all over the Middle East (where what is essentially the same dish is generally called muhallabia), Iran (fereni), Afghanistan, and India (often as phirni).
As one would expect with something so widespread, the history of firni goes back a very long way; it seems to have originated in ancient Persia or the Middle East; and to have been introduced to India by the Moghuls.
