Chaler Payesh

I always had a sweet corner for sweets. I used to devour sweets whenever I got the chance. I remember those days from school, I used to study at night and my mom always kept sweets loaded in the fridge. My way of taking a break from study was to get hold some sweets and have them.

Those days are gone, and so are the streets of Kolkata, where you’ll find sweet shops on every road. I really miss every kind of sweet, be that the world famous rasogolla, or not that famous chanar sandesh. So, thought of taking up the task to myself; satiating my sweet tooth, preparing something straight from my kitchen.

I was all set to prepare Mugh-daler-laddu. Everything was at place, all the ingredients, I had started making it too. Towards the end of my preparing it I got a call from my mom, adnd almost forgot that the oven was on. I jumped back smelling the burnt smells from kitchen, but everything gone. There was only a charred mass left out in the wok. In addition to this mess, I had to wash the utensil: that was really an awful experience.

But, as usual I never loose heart. So the next day I again set up to prepare something sweet, this time it was not the same as the other day. I prepared chaler-payesh and wow, it was really awesome. Here is it for all of you.

Today is janmasthami, there is Puja going at my home in Kolkata, again missing my family a lot. Neways this preparation is for my mom, and sending it to Festive Food Event hosted by Purva.

Also sending it to Anisheetu’s SWC-Karntaka event. Living inBangalore for more than a year now Ijust couldn’t control myself to send this Bengali style Chaaler Payesh for the Karnataka food event, though the payesham is not much different from this paayesh.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Sweet smelling Rice (Gabindobhog er chaal): 100gms

Milk (Dudh): 1 ½ l

Sugar (Chini): 150gms

Ghee: 1 teaspoon

Cashew nuts(Kaju Badam): 10gms,

Raisins (Kismis): 10gms

Green cardamom (Choto Elaichi): 3 or 4

Almonds (Badam): 5 or 6

Bay leaf (Tej Pata): 1 or 2

Almonds and Cashew -courtesy Flickr.com

Preparation:

• Boil the milk in very low flame, and let it condense till it become almost ¾ its original volume.
• Meanwhile, add ghee to rice and mix well.
• Drop in the rice when the milk is ready, and now cook on high flame, stirring often.
• As the rice gets cooked add sugar, green cardamom, bay leaf.
• Keep on flame till the sugar melts.
• Throw in the cashew nuts and raisins.
• Serve hot or refrigerate, as you like it. Garnish with raisins, almonds, cashew nuts or any other dry fruits of your choice.

Tips from Granny:

• If you dont get Gobindobog, then work out with good quality Basmati rice
• You can also leave out the ghee, but that does not allow the rice to stick to each other.
• The more you condense the milk, the better it tastes.

Payesh

Payesh