How to make khiri or payasam I Odisha famous Khiri I Traditional Odia Sweet

Today I'm going to try something different and this actually is a dessert which is quite popular in almost all the parts of India. It is is called Payasam in South India and in North India it is called Kheer. I am particularly talking about this cuisine from place called Orissa and now changed to Odisha. I am from a small town called Cuttack in Odisha. Though I was born and brought up in Rourkela, I moved to Cuttack after my late father’s retirement. Here I was introduced to this recipe as my Aunt (called khudi in odia) used to cook this for every special occasion. It takes time to prepare this recipe but the outcome is simple unbelievable.

No matter which part of the world you are, if you belong to Odisha of 80s and 90s and are fortunate enough to taste this lovely and delicious sweet incredibly made out of Milk and Rice, then you will undoubtedly say, "east or west, odia khiri is the best". Yes, it is such a simple yet incredibly delicious recipe that you will never forget if you taste once. Any festival, any special occasion is incomplete without this special cuisine in Odisha.

Called Khiri in Odia language, I love this dish and believe me or not tried for the first time myself. It came out awesome and I suggest you try this when you have ample time during this lock down due to Covid-19.

 

Ingredients

Milk – 3 ½ Litre of Milk

Rice – 1 Cup

Sugar – (As per the taste)

Condensed Milk or Khoya

Cashew Nut – 100 Gram

Raisin – 50 Gram

Badam – 100 Gram

A pinch of salt

 

Preparation

 

To start with, break the rice into half after coarsely grinding in a mixie. Avoid grinding it too much or from become fine like powder. Now soak the rice in two glass of water for 15-20 minutes. More the water is soaked better it is as it will be cooking faster.

Add ghee to a pan on the fire and fry the cashew nuts for 3 minutes till golden brown. Do same to the raisin also. After frying take them out and keep aside.

Take a vessel and boil the milk.  We also need cow ghee and we will need Khoya which is actually the condensed and dried form of milk. So you can call it khoya or you can say dry condensed milk. If you don't get it then you can use condensed milk which you can find in in any diary retail shop. We need to take a thick bottomed vessel or large bowl to ensure that the milk doesn’t get stick to the bottom of the pan. Now boil the milk which you can take as per your requirement i.e. based on the quantity you are looking for. In my case I have taken about three and half liters of milk. Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pan and add three tablespoon of sugar when the oil is hot and fry till golden brown.  Stir fry the sugar in the ghee and keep frying till the white sugar becomes golden brown. This will give our khiri or sweet beautiful texture in the end.

Once the sugar is brown, add the soaked rice and fry well. Fry the soaked rice for about 3 to 4 minutes and observe the color of the rice to turn golden brown. Now the milk and boil at high flame for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, reduce the flame to low and keep cooking the rice and milk together for about 40 to 45 minutes till the milk becomes thick and reduced to half. Keep stirring in between to avoid the milk to get stuck at the bottom and the bubbles to come out. After about 40 minute you can see the change in texture of the milk and the rice will be cooked nicely and start coming on the top of the milk. Once, the rice and milk are done nicely add sugar and boil for another 5-10 minutes. Now add the condensed milk and see that the khiri is thick and nice.

Once it is done, switch off the heat and wait for 5 minutes. Now, add the fried cashew, raisin and the almonds (cut into slices) and serve.

This sweet tastes great when is cold. Please share your comments and feedback.