Nolen Gurer Payesh

Friday is Sankranti, which means its time to get Nolen/ Notun/Khejur Gur and keep a flickering tradition alive. The winter sun is at its glorious best today, it reminds me of my younger days in India, when my parents would get this famous date jaggery, Bengalis lovingly call Nolen Gur.

We would wait in anticipation when my Grandmother and Mum would get busy in the kitchen, breaking the gur down for sweet winter delicacies - pithe, puli, and payesh. All that is a thing of the past for me now.

What remains now, is just a taste in my mouth, and thankfully its not bitter. Its the smoky, sweet taste of Khejur Gur.

All I have today is a bowl of Nolen Gurer Payesh sparkling in the afternoon sun to remember my past and some forgotten traditions. And I’d like to share it with you…

Ingredients for Nolen Gurer Payesh:

1 liter half and half cream/full cream milk
3 tablespoons Basmati rice, washed and soaked in water
6-7 tablespoons of grated date jaggery/ nolen gur

Begin by doing this test. Boil half a cup of milk and add some nolen gur in it. If the milk curdles, you cannot use that jaggery for your dessert. If it doesn’t you are in for some treat.

In a thick bottom saucepan, boil the milk on low-medium heat, stirring continuously. When its reduced to half its original quantity, add the Nolen Gur. I grate my jaggery and then add it to the milk. It helps to quickly break it down in the hot milk.

Keep cooking the milk and gur by adjusting the heat from time to time. You literally have to babysit the cooking process. The last thing you want is to burn the milk and your precious gur.

When the milk starts to thicken, add the washed and drained rice.

Keep the heat on low and keep stirring all the time. Scrape the sides of the pan into the milk, if a skin forms on the top, mix that in as well, the real taste lies there!

Do a taste test and add a little more gur only if necessary. Remember all food tastes less sweet (or salty) when they are piping hot. Do not overdo the sweetness in the payesh, no one likes a sinfully sweet payesh.

When the rice in the payesh gets cooked, turn the heat off. The milk would have turned thick and adorn a color so rich, only Nolen Gur can flaunt!

Its now time to escape to the taste of tradition with a bowl of Nolen Gurer Payesh.

Its also legal to make Payesh with plain white sugar. Here is the recipe if you don’t have Nolen Gur this winter.

Phool Makhanar Payesh

Makhana are the puffed seeds of giant water lilies. Makhana or Euryale ferox is an aquatic cash crop in India. The Mallah community of Bihar use indigenous methods for harvesting the seeds of water lily plants, and spend a lot of their time in processing the seeds of this crop. Read an interesting paper on Makhana and its harvesting method here.

I first had my share of Makhane ka Kheer or Makhanar Payesh in Madhubani as a pre-teen. I wasn’t particularly thrilled about the fact that the dessert was made of “seeds”.

Our hosts, an elderly couple who were both resident doctors spoke Maithili and regarded this kheer as a great delicacy which paired well with a dinner of Sattu ka Paratha or locally called Makuni.

I was surprised to find these natural foods here in Toronto at the Indian store. I was quick to grab two packets. We spent the first just snacking on it. I tossed the Makhana in hot ghee and seasoned with salt and pepper and fried them on very low heat till each “seed” got blissfully crispy. They beat a bowlful of calorie-rich buttered popcorn hands down!

But tonight I made Makhanar Payesh or Makhane ka Kheer, a simple dessert of thickened milk (or cream) and the Makhana thrown in and cooked till soft. The chopped almonds and cardamom powder were just the fringe benefits of an innovative dessert.

My childhood friend Rajni consulted her Mother for me before I started on my payesh project. “Aunty” suggested I toss the Makhana in ghee and then add them to the milk. And I did exactly that.

Ingredients for Makhanar Payesh are:

1 liter half and half cream
250 grams makhana
2 tablespoons ghee
5-6 tablespoons sugar
Few almonds, roughly chopped
Quarter teaspoon powdered green cardamoms
Few strands of saffron (optional)

Start boiling the cream in a thick bottom pan. You could also use milk, I used cream to reduce cook time. Add the cardamom powder and half the chopped almonds to the cream.

In a separate pan, heat ghee and toss the Makhana on low heat till they get crispy and brown on the edges. Keep them aside.

Babysit the milk/cream and keep stirring it continuously. It should reduce to almost half before you add the toasted Makhana. Add sugar.
 
Cook till the Makhana is soft in the insides. Add the leftover chopped almonds and sprinkle some saffron before you serve. The Makhanar Payesh can be served either warm or chilled.

Sweet Beginnings…

I have a feeling my life is going to change from here completely. Its probably going to affect PreeOccupied too, hopefully in a good way.

I am looking at the world with different eyes now. Often find myself at absolutely new places, peeping through hitherto unexplored nooks. Sometimes I also experience a thrill so new, had I not been in this situation, I would have thought I was going delirious.

But I am happy. Elated about the changes my soul is going through. Embracing the new beginning as it comes each day.

I am shrugging off the shadows of doubt and looking up directly at the Sun. The sunlight touching my face to light it up. Its glow reflecting on my face.

I have been touched by life and I am thankful for this new beginning… 
…called Chaanaar Payesh.

Ingredients for Chaanaar Payesh are:

1+1 liter milk
3-4 tablespoons finely granulated sugar
Handful of pistachios, coarsely chopped
Quarter teaspoon green cardamom powder
Few strands of saffron
2 tablespoons white vinegar

Start boiling a liter of milk in a thick-bottom saucepan. It should start thickening on its own after about 30-40 minutes of slow cooking. Add half the pistachios and green cardamom powder.

The milk starts changing color and becomes a shade darker than its original milky white.

In another pan, boil one liter milk, as it rises to the surface of your saucepan, slowly add the white vinegar. Turn the heat off. The milk curdles and separates, leaving a lemon yellow color whey. This is your Chaanaa or paneer.

Strain the paneer in a muslin / cheesecloth. Hang curdled cheese for about 20 minutes.

In the pistachio-cardamom-flavored milk, add the Chaanaa (hung curdled cheese) and keep stirring. You can now crank the heat up to medium-high.

Let the chaanaa cook in the milk for about 5-7 minutes. Add the sugar and mix well. Give it a quick taste and see if the sugar is rightly balanced. Adjust accordingly.

Remove from heat and transfer in a dessert bowl. Garnish with strands of saffron and some chopped pistachio. Serve chilled.