The first mention of Kheer may be found as the Sanskrit word Kshirika, meaning a dish prepared with milk, in the fourteenth-century Padmavat of Gujarat. Known by various names as Payesh, Payasam, Gil-e-Firdaus, Firni, Kheer is a pan-Indian dessert that’s loaded with legends, myths, rituals, traditions, and history. Lily traces the antiquity of this delicacy, in the weekly column, exclusively in Different Truths.
I sat purring in my favourite stuffed winged chair, literally licking the cream off my lips after a deeply satisfying bowl of Kheer. That is when I pondered as to why, in spite of being a global dish, rice pudding is interwoven tightly into the multi-shaded fabric of India, in particular? Ask any housewife to make anything sweet and she will never disappoint a hungry family for there will always be the three basic ingredients needed for a basic homely rice pudding (desi style). I am, of course not talking about the Firni in the clay containers that you get outside Kesar Da Dhabha in Amritsar or in the Haveli chains in North Indian highways! It can be made with vermicelli, tapioca, sago, broken wheat, added to milk and sugar with nuts like cashew, raisins, pistachios, and cardamom for flavours.
Known by various names as Payesh, Payasam, Gil-e-Firdaus, Firni, it still tastes divine!
Well for starters, I tend to agree with Harold McGee’s words, when he says, “For sheer inventiveness with milk, as the primary ingredient, no country on earth can match India.” It’s really child’s play to make Kheer. This endears it to the cook and the one who relishes it alike! Ayurveda recommends it in its list of happy foods for a healthy life. It has been, therefore, proven beyond doubt that rice pudding was a part of the diet of Indians in ancient times. Rice was foraged and farmed in India long before the wild rice was domesticated in Europe or elsewhere.
The first mention of Kheer may be found as the Sanskrit word Kshirika, meaning a dish prepared with milk, in the fourteenth-century Padmavat of Gujarat. It was then made with Jawar (a kind of millet) and milk. Now, we know it as a versatile dish made with most vegetables and fruits. Bottle gourd, jackfruit, and almonds are all roped in as are apples. It has a non-vegetarian avatar too, strangely. Blancmange and Potega seem to be the precursors of Kheer.
Rice pudding was used by the Romans as a detox diet and a stomach coolant.
The Persians relished another version of Kheer, called Firni, in which they included the use of rose water and dried fruits.
Afghanis created the popular dish Shola-e-Zard, which used saffron and rose water. It was quite like sheer Brinji. Oodles of flavours were added to the simple concoction with Kewra or screw pine essence, pistachio, almonds, raisins, cardamoms, and cinnamon. It was all decorated with gold leaf, which was edible. Till now Kheer was mostly served hot like a porridge. In this manner, it was preferred as a cold dessert.
A celebratory dish of the Ming dynasty of China was also a type of Kheer, prepared by soaking fruits in honey. It was famous as Eight Jewel Rice Pudding. Layers of fruit were put in wide bottomed pans. The twist came in the form of sweetened cooked glutinous rice, poured on top. Later, the dessert was steamed for as long as it took for the rice to break down to a blended mass.
Seventeenth century Europe saw this dish as a baked dessert with nutmeg and egg included. It was known to be a hugely popular baked pudding during Shakespeare’s time. Thomas Dawson’s, “The good hussifes jewell” (1596) – yes, that’s the spelling – mentions a recipe, which I want to share with you all in its original form.
“To make a Tart of Ryse, boil your rice, and put in the yolks of two or three eggs into the rice, and when it is boiled put it into a dish and season it with sugar, cinnamon, ginger, butter and the juice of two or three oranges, and set it on the fire again.”
Indians generally preferred cinnamon and cardamom to flavour their Kheer probably to balance the bitter-sweet jaggery or fruits, as sugar was an unknown thing till then. Kheer became indispensable in India due to its religious association with homes and temples.
During the Chola dynasty, rice was believed to have qualities that sustained life. It became a relevant part of religious rituals. Another thing that gave Kheer desirability was its Shwet or white colour, which translated into a symbol of divinity and purity.
The revered Jagannath Puri temple records recount how it was tweaked to convert it into the famed prasad.
The Konark Temple, a renowned Indian landmark of ancient India has a legend associated with Kheer. Legend has it that the foundation of the temple, which had to be laid ahead of the sea’s anchorage area could not be laid despite repeated attempts. Folklore says that the chief architect’s son used a bowl of Kheer to show how the bridge could be built by making small rice balls in the warm milk to explain his point.
Two remarkable things happened as a result of this child’s ingenuity – one, of course, was that the Konark temple was constructed and another was the discovery of a different and new form of Kheer called ‘Gointa Godi Kheer’. It remains till today the signature dessert of this state. It was so flavourful that after the war of Kalinga it became a staple in Emperor Ashoka’s Palace in the evenings.
The southern part of India knows Kheer as Payasam. I believe the most delicious Payasam is found in the temples of Guruvayoor and Ambalapuzzha. Serving Payasam is a tradition in Ambalappuzha.
India is a land of legends and myths. One legend says Lord Krishna took the form of an old sage and challenged the reigning king to a game of chess. Being a sharp player and a mind game tricks master, the king agreed. The king was taken aback and truly befuddled by the sage’s request – an amount of rice grain for each square of the chessboard, each square would have double the number of grains than the previous pile. The king expectedly lost and from then on started the tradition of distributing free Payasam in temples.
I am delighted to share the recipe of Temple Kheer here.
Recipe of Temple Kheer
Ingredients
Two tablespoons ghee
3/4 cup long grain rice washed and dried
1/2 bay leaf
2 liters milk
1/2 cup ground rock sugar or raw sugar
1/4 cup currants
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
A pin head size of pure cooking camphor
I tablespoon roasted nuts for garnish
Method
Toast rice in melted ghee in a heavy pot for a minute. Add bay leaf, milk. Reduce heat and simmer until half in quantity, stirring in between. Add sweetener, currants, and cardamom. Simmer till it’s creamy.
Stir optional. Add camphor, cool and chill. Serve garnished with toasted nuts.
So listen to a word of advice and lap up some nutritious and delicious Kheer right away. There must be no child who hasn’t lapped up his mama’s homely version sometime in life if he belongs to the Indian subcontinent. My friends from Bengal add that the jaggery made from dates. It’s a taste to die for!
©Lily Swarn
Photos from the Net.
#Kheer #Payesh #Payasam #Gil-e-Firdaus #Firni #Blancmange #Potega #RicePudding #Rice #Milk #Sugar #Nolen Gur #Kshirika #PadmavatOfGujarat #AfghanisShola-e-Zard #Shakespeare #ThomasDawson #CholaDynasty #JagannathPuriTemple #KonarkTemple #GointaGodiKheer #LordKrishna #TempleKheer #Legends #Myths #Rituals #Traditions #History #Different Truths
By
By
By
By