Rice Pudding (Kheer)

I bought goat's milk yesterday and discovered that I don't really like it. Therefore, I've been looking for ways to use it. Last night I made chowder and tonight I decided to try for a dessert.
The Indian restaurant near my home in Minneapolis always had a great Sunday-afternoon buffet. The final touch of an unbelievably-filling meal was always managing to squeeze in one tiny bowl of kheer - the Indian/Pakistani sweet and rich rice pudding. This makes ~3 servings.
Prepare:
-Soak 1/4 cup of rice in cold water for an hour
- 3 cups of milk
-1/2 cup of sugar (next time, I'll use a little less- it came out pretty sweet)
-4 cardamom pods, crushed a bit
-some almonds (I didn't have that, so I used almond meal that I pinched from my house-mate. I don't think this is necessary)
-1 tsp vanilla (optional)
Cook:
-On low, cook milk and rice for 50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so
-Turn up to low-medium, add the sugar, cardamom, almond, vanilla and cook for 20 minutes, stirring every couple minutes
-Once it reaches a nice consistency (should be a bit runny but a bit thick too) and a nice taste, serve
Tips:
-I think traditionally this is served cold, but I was excited to try it so I ate it warm and it was fine.
-It turned out surprisingly good with goat's milk, considering I don't really like it. I think it would be great with soy.
-It was a tad too sweet at the end, so I added some plain milk and mixed it in and it turned out well.
-Since I love chocolate, I figured it could have a part to play with this dessert. I mixed some chocolate chips in a small bowl of the pudding, where they quickly melted in. It tasted fine, but not that great, to be honest, and it detracted from the pudding-ness.
-This goes great with fruit. I'd say something like banana, mango, or something along those lines (not sour, not watery).