Khejur Gurer Payesh
Kejur Gurer Payesh is a Bengali comfort dessert prepared with short grain aromatic 'gorinbobhog rice' or 'kalijeera rice'. It is often sweetened with sugar but on special occasion the white payesh is turned into mild brown by using kejur gur (date palm jaggery).
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup short grain rice
- 1 liter whole milk
- ½ cup grated jaggery
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup cashew
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 green cardamoms
Instructions
- Wash the rice a few times and then soak it for 15 minutes.
- In the mean time pour the milk into a heavy bottom pan. Drop the bay leaves and the cardamoms.
- Now bring the milk to boil and then reduce to medium heat. Keep stirring occasionally as you simmer the milk for 15 minutes.
- Drain the soaked rice and pour to the milk and keep stirring occasionally as the rice cooks. (DO NOT ADD SUGAR or JAGGERY AT THIS MOMENT)
- As the rice cooks do not increase the heat, keep stirring occasionally. It will take about 15 to 20 minutes for the rice to be cooked through. You don't want the rice to get mushy so keep an eye.
- Once the rice is completely cooked through, switch off the heat and add the jaggery, raisins and cashew. Stir it to incorporate the jaggery completely and then cover the pan for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, stir it around and give a taste. If you prefer payesh much sweeter then feel free to add more.
- As the payesh cools down it will thicken a little bit more. So if at this point it already looks very thick, then add little milk to loosen the texture.
- Enjoy Khejur Gurer Payesh warm or room temperature.
Notes
Key note to remember is that you shouldn't add any sweetner before the rice is cooked through. Adding sweetner will slow the cooking time of the rice and as a result you will end up getting a mushy texture.
AMAZON LINK to buy Gobindobhog Rice
AMAZON LINK to buy Kalijeera Rice