Payesh

There was a period during my early childhood when we didn't really have a lot of material possessions.  We always had enough to eat and a place to stay, but there were no frills or sense of extravagance.  Life was simple.  Despite these frugal circumstances, we always enjoyed a simple home-baked cake (out of a box, of course, since neither my mother nor I seem to have great baking skills) and a bowl of payesh on our birthday growing up.  Payesh, known as "kheer" in Hindi, can be described as a milk-based pudding often served with rice (chaler payesh), small pieces of rolled up dough (chushi payesh), homemade blocks of chchana or cheese (chchanaar payesh), or cream of wheat (shuji payesh).  Although many south Asian cuisines incorporate payesh as a common dessert, Bengalis openly boast about their ability to make it "just right."  It's true, too -- my mother and I agree, without reservation, that the extra time we put into slaving over a pot of boiling milk, stirring until the consistency is just perfect, seems completely worth it.  Here are two recipes for payesh below.

1. Chaler payesh (rice pudding)


2. Shuji payesh (cream of wheat pudding)