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A rice pudding from antiquity
August 8, 2007 | 55 Comments
When Swapna announced the Regional Cuisine of Indian – Orissa event, I thought, ‘fuggedaboutit!!’ I had already posted the only Oriya recipe that I knew.
Then, I remembered giving gyan in the same post that kheer / kheeri / payesh / payasam / rice pudding originated at the ancient Jagannath Temple at Puri. 
I had picked up this nugget from Wikipedia. If that really was the case, there ought to have been a recipe for it somewhere.
I googled ‘oldest rice pudding’, and boy, did I hit the jackpot. The first hit was from Cooking With Kurma, and it had the recipe. :yes:
I love that blog and have visited it a couple of times, but had never seen this before.
Kurma Dasa not only had the recipe, he had a blow by blow account of all the protocol in the Puri temple kitchen, which has remained largely intact over the centuries. Read it HERE.
This Australian, known as his country’s ‘Vegetarian Guru’ claims that ‘bhat payasa’ (bhat = rice, payasa = pudding) from the Jagannath Puri Temple is the oldest rice pudding in the world – “2,000 years old”.
How plausible is that claim?
The temple was originally built by the Kalinga ruler Anantavarman Chodaganga (1078 – 1148 A.D). Much of the present structure was built by King Ananga Bhima Deva in the year 1174 AD. It took 14 years to complete and was consecrated in 1198 A.D.
That makes the temple 1,000 years old – atleast in its current form. It is puzzling, therefore, to see the claim of this recipe being twice that age.
One culinary historian claims ‘kheer’ originated in Persia, and that it derives from ‘sheer‘, which is Persian for ‘milk’ .
“Kheer is the Indian name for sweet milk puddings usually made with rice, although it can also be made with fine noodles called seviyan, or semolina, carrots or sage. It is sometimes called sheer, which means milk in Persian. It probably originated in Persia where a similar dessert is known as sheer birinj (rice pudding).”
—Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson (p. 431)
Another claims ‘kheer’ derives from the Sanskrit ‘Ksheer‘. Since both Sanskrit and Persian belong to the Indo-Aryan group of languages, it is conceivable that the word has an identical root.
“Kheer. A sweet confection based on rice. When prepared as a ritual pucca’ food, the rice is first lightly fried in ghee before boiling with sugared milk till the milk thickens. A kheer of jowar is mentioned in the fourteenth century padmavat of Gugarat, and other cereal products (vermicelli, cev, pheni) may be used as well. A thinner product is payasam, and both are popular desserts, routinely as well as on festive occasions. The Hindi word kheer derives from the Sanskrit ksheer for milk and kshirika for any dish prepared with milk.”
—A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, K. T. Achaya (p. 130)
The fact is, almost every part of the world has a culinary concoction using rice, milk, spices, flavourings, sweetener, and occasionally eggs, going back centuries. See the list HERE.
Describing the history of rice pudding in India, Ratna Rajaiah explains how Payasam or Kheer plays a central part in mythology and practice, cutting across religious lines.
From the Kheer Bhawani temple in Kashmir, to Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s dargah in Rajasthan, to St. Anthony’s Church and Ambalapuzha Temple in Kerala, it is the offering of choice to the deity, then distributed as a blessing to worshippers, in the form of ‘prasadam‘ or ‘tabarruk‘. The entire article HERE.
And while it is debatable if the Jagannath Temple’s Bhat Payasa (pronounced bh-arth paa-yasa) is the oldest, it is certainly the oldest living recipe for rice pudding, recreated tirelessly on a daily basis for nearly ten centuries.
Kurma Dasa’s insights into the kheer-making process at Puri were gleaned from famous cookbook author Yamuna Devi, who visited the kitchen and narrated the process in detail. (The question marks are mine)
Without electricity or machines, a legion of skilled chefs work under oil lamps over open wood fires. Every day since the temple was inaugurated over twenty centuries ago (???) , the temple chefs have prepared more than one hundred different vegetarian dishes in enormous quantities to be offered to the temple Deities, and then distributed as prasadam, sanctified food. The kitchen runs so efficiently that given only one day’s notice, the chefs can prepare a full meal for ten thousand guests at a sitting…
The kitchen houses an astounding 752 wood-burning clay stoves, called chulas, each about three feet square and four feet high. To accomodate various sizes of pots, small clay knobs are judiciously placed at intervals on the stove’s surface for support. A circle of five jug-shaped earthen pots rest directly on the stove’s surface, kept in place with the clay knobs. Three more pots go in the open spaces above the pots to form a second layer, and one more pot goes in the centre on top, forming a nine-pot pyramid. In this way, all nine pots receive lickings of heat and smoke from the wood fires below.
While it is all fine and dandy to gush about one’s heritage and traditions, it is also worth noting that the ‘mahaprasadam’ cooked at the Jagannath Puri temple is not always distributed to the devotees. Sometimes, it is destroyed, just for the heck of it, though people a few blocks away may be starving.
Food worth several lakhs meant as offering to deities at the Jagannath temple in Puri was buried on Friday morning following the entry there of an American national.
Engineer Paul F. Roediger, who came to the holy town along with two Hindus, got into the temple without knowing about entry restrictions. The servitors raised a hue and cry over his entry, thereby disturbing the rituals.
Mr. Roediger, who was detained by the police for nearly three hours, was allowed to go only after he paid a fine of Rs.209.
From: The Hindu
At the same time, they have no problems accepting large monetary donations from ‘foreigners’, calling a press conference to gloat over the same, and getting tax write-offs as a religious institution. The temple also does not allow certain castes of Hindus into certain ‘sacred’ sections of the premises.
A few notes pertaining to the recipe.
Adding the Indian bay leaf/Tejpatta to milk-based desserts is a distinctively Odiya touch. This is the leaf of the cassia tree and is also called Tamalpatra or Malabathrum.
**We used white long-grained rice, since the recipe did not suggest otherwise. We aren’t sure if polished rice was part of the ancient recipe. White rice is what seems to be currently in use.
**We doubled the rock sugar to a cup, since ours didn’t seem to be sweet enough.
**We reduced the milk to a fourth of its quantity as described, and found it to be too thick, almost like a semi-dry porridge when it cooled down. We ended up adding milk to it later. Reducing it to half its volume should be plenty.
(from Cooking with Kurma)
2 tablespoons Ghee
3/4 cup long grained rice, washed and dried
1/2 Indian bay leaf (tejpatta)
2 litres milk
1/2 cup ground rock sugar, or raw sugar (we used 1 cup)
1/4 cup currants
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
one pin-head quantity of pure cooking camphor (optional)
1 tablespoon toasted nuts for garnish
Heat the ghee or butter in a heavy pot over medium heat, and toast the rice for a minute.
Add the bay leaf and milk. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced to half it’s original volume.
Add the sweetener, currants, and cardamom, and simmer the mixture until it reaches one fourth of it’s original volume, and is thick and creamy. (we found that this makes it too thick, and recommend reducing it only to half its original volume)
Stir in the optional camphor, and cool to room temperature, or refrigerate until chilled.
Serve garnished with the toasted nuts.
Sending this to dear Swapna @ Swad for the Regional Cooking of India – Orissa event started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine,
and to sweet Sharmi @ Neivedyam for JFI-Rice, which is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi.
- b.
Filed Under: bhaat-payasa, cooking-camphor, Dairy/Cheese, Jagannath-Puri-temple, kheer, kheeri, milk, Orissa, payasa, payasam, Rice, rice-pudding, rock-sugar, vegetarian recipes
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55 Comments
Very well worded and well thought post, friends! I agree with you on everything…..
I have never seen such glamorous looking ingredients !!!!
Wow… that was a great read, as always
You rock guys :bow: :bow:
This recipe is just like what my mom prepares sans the bay leaf… the cooking camphor gives that divine touch.
-Mythili
The kheer looks Divine :secret: Even I simply don’t understand the rules of a few temples…discrimination…bribes…prasaadam slyly given away to the ‘influential’…all this and more in the holy sanctum echoing the chants of God
Bay leaf is I think is an essential ingredient in their kheer. Even my neighbour kept insisting I should add it :yes: Nice pictures and an equally good recipe.Good post. :horn:
;;)
Looks yummy!
I can’t get to that spice page, so Indian bay leaf is different from the regular bay leaf?
indian bay leaf is from the cassia tree, the other one is from the laurel. – b.
That was incredibly interesting; thanks for sharing all of that fine research!
I’ve picked up and looked at blocks of edible camphor, but haven’t ventured to buy and use it yet… I do like its fragrance though; it must add a certain, subtle etherealness to the final flavour. Yah, I’m intrigued!
Nice recipe…great write up…fantastic photos!
(who clicked these photos..j or b?? just curious that’s all )
i took the pix. – b
Dang!! :hmm: I thought of posting exactly the same thing for RCI from the same Kurma dasa’s site
well yours looks so beautiful. the ingredients looks so glamorous, just like Shn said. Thanks for the great one.
why don’t you post it, sharmi? – b.
I have been to jagannath puri temple and have had this kheer as well! Loved this post!
kya bhai log, aap ne woh hazaron saal purana kheer ko bhi nahi choda!!!! :bow: on this blast from the past!!!!
Hey Bee,
Wonderful post! Love u’re informative posts. It was very refreshing to read about the ancient history about the puri temple. Not sure if those claims are right, but the concept of those kitchens, the clay stoves, pots, swaras, tunias etc. etc. is rather interesting.
Just a couple weeks back they had a huge rath yatra for jagannath puri in our temple here. The whole oriya community here organized the whole event. It was very nice, kind off like a celebration. Ever since i have been thinking about visiting the temple in puri next time I am in India. I would love to see this kitchen when i go (if they let me that is!)
Its very sad to read about all the discrimination and hypocrisy! We need more voice and blogs like u guys’s to get all this out in the open!
I love u’re candid style!
And as always pictures are beautiful! I am not a fan of kheer so i know i wont try this recipe
Cheers
Latha
We tend to romanticise everything, especially when it comes to religion, tradition and heritage. Most of the time, it’s plain amusing; sometimes, it’s quite sickening.
On another note, the kheer reminds me of something an uncle swears by – adding a pinch of salt to the payasam.
i was tempted to add a pinch of salt to this – i add salt to all sweets. this is probably the only recipe i didn’t tamper with. salt somehow makes sweets taste sweeter. – b
Wow, a really old recipe…But I too thought that reducing by a fourth would make it rabdi even without any rice! Your amendments seem appropriate. The tejpatta and the camphor would be very distinctive touches from regular kheer.
looks elegant and delicious. nice pictures thanks for sharing !the bay leaf taste sure is somthing which adds to the flavour.
I have been to that temple and my memories are not very fond of the system or priests. BUT the kheer you have made sounds yummy and worth reading about! I loved the pic of the ingredients. Very aesthetically pleasing. Good eye B!
Gorgeous dish. Tom is not a rice pudding fan. I remember when he met my family in San Fransisco for the first time my masi had made kheer in his honor. Tom without really knowing it ate a few spoonfuls – then asked me what it was. I could not help cracking up when I told him it was rice pudding. Tom the true gentleman he is ate it without a further word or a blink of the eye. I still crack up at that story. Fortunately for me Soerne loves rice pudding so I have a good excuse to make it. This sounds great!
tom has company. i’m not a rice pudding fan either. i like kheer with lentils, jaggery and coconut milk. in kerala it’s called pradhaman. – b.
Me no like camphor in food
but me thinks rest of stuff is great.
How do you guys come up with one recipe after another… each so diverse yet so yummy…
Keep blogging so I can keep coming here and keep :bow:
Oh, the Jagannath Puri temple is like Guruvayoor? Discrimination against non- Hindus? That’s really sad. The payasa looks great. What is rock sugar, kalkand? The bayleaf and camphor must give it a uniqueness. Cooking camphor is pacha karpooram that’s used in laddoos?
yeah, it’s pacha karpooram, and rock sugar is kalkandam. – b.
bee loved reading the whole article… and yummy kheer recipe.. i too dont understand the temple restriction policies, strange and doesnt make sense. its like the famous kerala singer yeshudas, being christian, not being allowed to enter guruwayur temple, even after he sat outside and sang so many krishna bhajans…dont get all this ….
my family have been trustees of guruvayoor temple for generations, but i will never step in there for this precise reason. – b.
see jyothsna is saying the same thing….
jyothsna, bee…isnt rock sugar also known as mishri?
dunno what it’s called. there are two types. the big blob like in the picture, and the tiny little squares. – b.
Hope atleast my today’s comment gets posted as past 3 days after a while the link will break. Nice payasam and the photographs are too good. I really envy u’re enthu Bee! Keep it up! ;;)
Rice pudding reminds me of the amusing chemistry my mom and I have on this subject.
I just cant get myself to enjoy any kind of payasam except Badam Payasam. But amma keeps making payasams for almost every occasion, insisting that this is my favourite. I predictably protest to say that I dont like payasam and refuse to have it. But who can argue with mothers? She just simply says, “You dont know anything, you love payasams. Now eat a little.” :laugh:
PS: Thanks for visiting our blog. We added you to our blogroll.
oh, yeah. it’s a mom thing. you are supposed to like what they like. they know you like something even if you don’t. btw, i too don’t like payasam that much. i love pradhaman, though. – b.
What a lovely post, so much information. I love coming to your blog, not only are the recipes scrumptious, well researched introduction are so interesting.
Nice entry for RICE event.
Wonderful post and also very interesting to hear the history of our beloved kheer. Some of the links you provide have become my favs to visit.
Bay Leaf is an important ingred of the Bengali Paayesh too and sometimes camphor is added also but I like it much better without the camphor
me too. i don’t mind a hint of the camohor in laddoos, but not in kheer. – b.
Woman,do you have telepathy or something!! Last night I was reading about rice pudding and here you are!! It’s very very strange!!:D
Loved reading about the history of Puri Temple.Makes me want to go now!!Rice Kheeri is yum.I am loving the Odiya cuisine!Yesterday,a guy commented that we should always say Odiya, not Oriya,it’s Odiyan cuisine, not Oriyan!I said I am ignorant like rest of us poor things,and told him I will add a word about that and I did!!Phew!!:)
thank you, teacher.
i’ve made the change – b.
Hi Jai and Bee…Must say you guys are doing a very wonderful job and love how passionate you are about things that you care…beleive me your blog is the first that i read in the morning every day and enjoy every part of it from ur travels to cooking….Had been to Puri a few years ago for Rath Yatra and its a must see for everyone atleast once in their life time…the huge sea of people from all castes and creeds rich or poor is just amazing…also the community kitchen is amazing with earthen pots cooking one over the other and yet the food is perfectly cooked everytime and since its mahaprasad even if you have a little bit you are full…dont know the reason but beleive me even 2 spoonfuls make you full and content! Keep up the good Job!!
Bay leaf and camphor are an integral part of Assamese rice pudding too…lends a distinctive flavour.
I am amazed by the intricate details of the recipe.wow what gorgeous looking ingredients!! I sure want to make that kheer now or send me some come on!!
Utterly delicious!
When I come here I know that I’m not just getting a recipe but a whole lot of knowledge! :angel: Thanks.
Edible camphor!!?? :secret: … where do u get it???
Lovve the payasam!!
any desi store – just be sure that it has not been on the shelf for too long.
Grr…. I am really mad at you. First Asha with her luchis, & now you guys.I wanted to post this.
I fell in love with Kurmadasa’s cooking when I saw his ‘cooking with Kurma’ series. When I was searching for the temple’s kheer recipe, I also felt the same way as you did when MR. Kurma’s recipe popped up.
Thats really mind blogging…those ingredients has a 5-star look and so does the write-up…I must say you have high energy levels….Till now I didn’t knew that origin of rice pudding is from India…great job
:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:
Whoa Bee, what a write up! I missed a lot on my favourite blog! good to be back !
Bee, Great post, I can smell the aroma of that tasty kheer looking at the ingredients.
themistressofspices.wordpress.com
V interesting Bee – I have been to Jagganath temple many times. They make the best payesh and fried sweetened crispdough on the planet. Thanks for unearthing the recipe. One for me to try for sure!
tejpatta n camphor in pudding …..definitely a new one for me ….i have never had camphor in any of the recipe i cooked or even ate
…..whr can i find it ?….i mean the cooking variety ….cant wait to try it …
in any indian store.
Dear Bee, I am so on behind in my reading and so many other things that it is not funny :bruised:
thank you for the lovely post of the sweet—what a needed pick-me-up :dance:!
Photos are beautiful — especially the last. And I love ‘cooking camphor’
[...] try to stay within the theme of a dish. this is a 1000-year old recipe of rice pudding from the Jaganath temple in [...]
Please shut up commenting about Hindu religions and customs in such a half-baked way, without bothering to learn fully about it.
Would you dare to open your mouth against Christian or Muslim customs?
Please keep your silly blog free of religious blasphemy. Your silly rants about Hindu temple customs are juvenile. Please shut up and get back to the kitchen.
The khiri seems tasty. You have forgotten to add the ghee or butter in the ingredient list.
Can khoya be added to the milk to make it tastier?
Khoya can be added…but it won’t be the rice pudding from antiquity
thanks for the catch. we’ve updated the ingredient list.
WOW :yes: I have to echo the majority of the comments and say.
1. excellent pictures
2. lovely – entertaining and enlightening details
3. looks like an interesting recipe.
although, I will have to go back to India and load up on supplies of cooking camphor and Indian tejpatta.
I have a confession to make. inspite of all the cooking that I do from all over the world, i never realised that cooking and burning camphor were 2 different things. fortunately I never attempted to use jalne wala camphor in any dishes :embarrass:
I have enjoyed the taste in those boondi laddus from kerala?
FYI – Not sure if you have seen it but Kurma Dasa has posted a link to your site from his http://www.iskcon.net.au/kurma/
It even has the pic of your kheer items.
Bee,
It was lovely reading your post.But accusing the Temple of discrimination, hypocrisy and all that is baseless.I am a resident of Orissa and am well aware of the rules and regulations of the temple.The mail motive behind this rule is to restrict people consuming flesh of cow or pig from entering the premises.And Rs. 209 is the penalty he had to pay, which cannot be termed as a bribe.
It is another rule of the temple that if the Mahaprasad is considered to be impurified, then it cannot be offered to the Lord and hence no mortal can consume it.Hence it is buried.
It’s better to go to the root of the matter to understand the reason behind it before commenting on it.
we find your comment very offensive.
so how do they verify if the brown-skinned people who enter it do not eat beef or pig? a lot of malayali hindus eat beef and pork. a lot of dalits eat beef and pork. are they barred too? pork is a coorgi specialty. are they not allowed as well? and how do they assume all white people or black people eat beef and pork? it’s a racist assumption. plain and simple. but they have no problem accepting money from white people do they?? did they ask the lady they accepted money from for a list of what she eats?
we tried going to the root of matter. it just does not make any sense to us. the same baloney and discrimination is practised at the guruvayur temple in kerala. we’re not supposed to comment on it because we don’t get the “root of the matter”? we do, ‘cos our family has been associated with the guruvayur temple for generations and has now disassociated themself from it because what they do is plain racist. we know that if we comment on any religious organisation, we will be told that we don’t “get it”. the fact is, we do get it, as much as those who try to explain away these racist, casteist practices. are we really in 2008? and really, they can give the “impurified” prasad to the starving instead of burying it, but that would require some caring and empathy for the poor on their part.
thanks for your advice on the parameters we need to use before commenting on an issue. maybe, you should ask the administrators at that temple to follow the same guidelines and think for a few minutes before making ridiculous statements?
- bee and jai
Ha! Racist and casteist indeed!!You guys are just making an issue out of norms being followed at temples.If you call this as a racist assumption, then so be it, take it or leave it!Be it 2008 or 2800 the tradition being followed 800 years back will also be followed now and forever.How much do you know about The Jagannath Temple at Puri and the services rendered, may I ask?You are speaking about bribe, this is a known fact amongst pujaris all around in our country which they term as ‘dakhshina’, but why is the age old temple to be blamed?And Rs. 209 a bribe????????? You ‘disassociated’ yourselves from the temple, and made no move to try and change them?
we do not owe you any explanations. this “discussion” is over.
According to your citation, then, no prasaad should be offered to God as so many people are hungry at that same time? Right?
that’s right. you may stop trolling now. – bee
if a offering is made to God then that food is later consumed not buried. there is no good that can come of burying the food. i guess you would rather have people starve. shows your moral standing on the issue. – jai
If you can’t explain your citations, don’t create a blog and persuade people to believe something which had never been intended.And moreover, you cannot stop me from giving my views in a blog.
you cannot prove anything that you have said. fact remains – the temple cannot determine who eats beef and pork and who doesn’t. they can only look at the color of the skin. original intention (whether it was the one that you claim or not) does not make a difference if it is applied in a racist way today. we just look at the practice. we find it offensive. we comment on it. this is our space, not yours. people can form their own opinions including the information they find here or not, much like you form your opinions.
for you to comment here is a privilege that we accord you. you choose not to respect that privilege.
I’ve been following this discussion with a fair amount of interest. It amazes me how people think their comment on a post on a blog written by someone else is *their* blog.
If you feel as strongly as you say you do, go write your own freaking blog. There are tons of free solutions. The bandwidth used by you when your comment is displayed on this page is *paid* for by the hosts of this blog. They have every right to to anything they want on their space, including delete and censor comments. Kudos to the authors of this blog for humouring someone who had every intention of being a nasty troll. If it were my blog, I would not have been as nice.
And yeah, I think I need to go get my own blog, too!