Full-fat milk reduced with small-grain rice and sweetened with bhangar gur (sugarcane jaggery) instead of sugar — the rustic, village-style payesh of Bengal where sugarcane jaggery gives a deeper, more caramel flavour than refined sugar.
Ingredients
1 litre full-fat milk
1/4 cup gobindobhog or any small-grain aromatic rice — washed (gobindobhog is a short-grain fragrant rice specific to Bengal; substitute with any short-grain rice)
1/2 cup bhangar gur (sugarcane jaggery — the dark, raw cane jaggery; available at Bengali grocery stores; or use dark jaggery)
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
2 bay leaf
Method
Bring milk to a boil: Pour 1 litre full-fat milk into a wide, heavy pot. Add bay leaves. Bring to a full boil on medium-high heat, stirring frequently.
Add the rice: Once boiling, add the washed, drained rice. Stir. Reduce to medium heat.
Cook stirring regularly: Cook on medium heat, stirring every 3 minutes, for 35 to 40 minutes. The rice will slowly cook and the milk will reduce and thicken progressively. The bay leaves add a subtle fragrance.
Check thickness: After 35 minutes the payesh should be thick — the rice fully cooked and every grain swollen, the milk reduced by more than half. The texture should flow slowly when stirred.
Remove bay leaves: Discard the bay leaves.
Remove from heat before adding jaggery: This is critical with jaggery. Remove the pot completely from the heat. Let it cool for 3 minutes. Adding jaggery to boiling milk causes it to split and curdle. The pot must be off the heat.
Add the bhangar gur: Add the sugarcane jaggery to the warm (not boiling) payesh. Stir gently as it dissolves. The payesh will turn from white to a warm golden-brown colour from the jaggery. The room will smell of caramel and milk.
Add cardamom: Add cardamom powder. Stir.
Taste and adjust: The payesh should taste of caramel-like jaggery, fragrant rice and full milk — deep and complex. Add more jaggery if not sweet enough.
Serve warm or chilled: Serve in small bowls warm, or refrigerate and serve cold where the payesh thickens considerably.
Note: Bhangar Gur Payesh uses raw sugarcane jaggery (bhangar gur) instead of nolen gur or sugar — producing a payesh with a more rustic, caramel-tobacco character. This is the village version of Bengali payesh, made in the districts where sugarcane grows. Gobindobhog rice — a fragrant short-grain rice grown only in Burdwan and Hooghly districts of Bengal — when used in payesh produces a natural fragrance that long-grain or basmati cannot match.