Any festival is incomplete with out the regional form of Kheer /Payas /Payasam offered to Lord Ganesh. As we enter the third day of Ganesh Utsav on 21 Sep 2012, here’s a little detail on Kheer. There are at least 50 variants in which Kheer is prepared across India that I am aware of may be there are more :). However I have made it a point to ensure that its not an elaborate form requiring to many ingredients and long hours of cooking. Typically Kheer is a sweet made using Milk (boiled to half its quantity on a low flame) mixed with sugar /jaggery apart from Vermicelli / Sevainya made out of wheat or rice flour. It is also made out of broken wheat / Semolina, or cracked rice (Govindobhog rice is the best option to make rice kheer) and some times a mix of rice and dals /pulses (Green gram / Bengal gram)
Note : When ever milk recipes are cooked on a low flame and for longer time the taste is certainly richer compared to a short time, high flame cooking!)
Now my version of Kheer :
1. Milk – 4 cups (boil on low flame for 30 minutes -leave a small porcelain dish as you boil so that milk will not spill or burn at the bottom of the vessel)
2. Jaggery – 1/2 Cup (grated)
3. Milk Maid – 100 ml
4. Broken wheat (Bansi Rava) – 1/2 cup Soak for 30 minutes before cooking.
5.Clarified butter (Ghee) – 20 gm
5. Dry fruits ( Cashew, raisins and almonds)
6.Cardamom and Saffron for flavor and color
Pressure cook broken wheat along with water that’s used for soaking for 4-5 whistles . Heat a frying pan and add ghee and fry the dry fruits to golden shade, now mix cooked broken wheat to this and mix it on a low flame for few minutes and add grated jaggery and Milk Maid diluted with 100 ml of water and cook for 2-3 minutes till jaggery melts and keep stirring the mixture . Now add the reduced milk slowly and keep stiring and allow it to boil for 5-10 minutes on a low flame . Serve it luke warm.
Nutrition meter 🙂 here we go :
Milk – Rich source of protein and calcium and Vitamin A
Jaggery – rich in Iron , minerals and fiber
Milk maid – Calories and protein and fat
Broken Wheat – Rich in Protein, carbs and Vitamin B complex and rich source of fiber
Clarified butter – better option of fat compared to saturated fatty acids and butter. Dry fruits – vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and fiber
Cardamom and Saffron again a dash of flavor, natural colorant with antioxidants and essential oils
A complete food indeed 🙂 so go ahead and experiment with ingredients that you wish to use to make your version of a complete food Kheer now………… 🙂
Note: You can avoid milk maid provided you have good quality milk else you might have to boil milk for a longer time to make it creamy / thicker.
Caution : Anything in excess is dangerous !
Ganapathi Bappa Moryaa! Mangala Moorthi Moryaa !
