Payesh, when perfectly made, is wonderfully creamy, smooth and custard-like, yet eggless. Today, my mother made a batch, complete with a sprinkling of chopped cashew nuts and plump raisins and flavored with bay leaves and cardamom.
I had asked her to teach me how to make it, but she made it when I was sleeping on a Sunday morning. Obviously, she didn’t have the heart to wake me up from my weekend slumber. Today was not my birthday, but I wanted to learn how to make it and eat it, too. I couldn’t watch her make it; here is the recipe as I heard it later. So, this is untested in a lab kitchen, but if you trust my mother, as I do, then go ahead and make it. Remember that the secret to great payesh is constant stirring and adding the sugar after the rice is tender.
Ingredients
1 quart (about 1 liter) whole milk
1 cup water
1/3
3 bay leaves
1/4
1/4
1/4
6 small cardamoms, crushed
Method
- Put half of the milk, bay leaves, rice, water, cashew nut, and raisins in a pot and bring to boil.
- Cook stirring until the rice is cooked, about 15 minutes, on low heat.
- Put the rest of the milk and sugar, and continue stirring until the milk thickens, about 15 minutes, on low heat.
- Add the cardamom, stir, and turn off the heat. Serve warm or chilled, garnished with a spring of mint or a swirl of thick honey.
Note: Grate nutmeg on top for a more complex flavor.
6 comments:
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Hi Paramita:
Thanks for visiting my blog. I visited yours.
Angshuman
Angshuman,
nice write up, but i didn't know water was added to payasams/ payesh, coz the aim to get a thicker end product and adding water only increases the time taken to thicken it :)
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Hi Nandita:
Sorry for the belated response, but I wanted to check with my mother before I responded. She says the water is added in the beginning to cook the rice well. Without the water, the milk can "harden" the rice -- it makes the texture of each grain shiny and impenetrable.
good recipe, but son's birthday?! how sexist is that?! I bet you are missing out on a lot of readers by that crass comment.
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