Nolen gurer payesh recipe | bengali rice kheer with nolen gur(date palm jaggery)

Nolen gurer payesh recipe or bengali rice kheer with nolen gur(date palm jaggery) step by step with pictures. In our Bengali cuisine, nolen gur’er payesh means a winter special rice kheer prepared with rice & sweet date palm jaggery. “Nolen gur” means date palm jaggery, “gurer = gur+er” means something made of gur, and “Payesh” means chawal ki kheer (in Hindi) or rice pudding(in English). Nolen gur/date palm jaggery,gobindobhog rice, milk, and cardamom are the basic ingredients for making this jaggery mixed Bengali payesh. Cashew, kishmish, and bay leaves are commonly added in this payesh like other payesh recipes. It is a common wintertime sweet dish or dessert in Bengal. Nolen gurer payesh prepared to celebrate Makar Sankranti (Bengali Poush Parbon) festival and winter time birthday in West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Nolen gurer payesh looks slightly brown in colour and taste-wise completely different from our similar homemade Bengali dessert sugar added rice kheer recipe. Old people tell in their childhood, winter’s first nolen gur(first harvested date palm jaggery) was used to prepare this delicious payesh for serving it first to the deity of the family. And then only they could eat the payesh or use the rest of the gur for the making of other bengali sweets.

As we Bengalis are popular for our sweet tooth so we just can’t keep ourselves away from this delicious and aromatic gurer payesh. This date palm jaggery is only available in winter, so to satisfy my craving, I store nolen gur and patali gur in my freezer in an airtight container and prepare all nolen gurer recipes throughout the year.

Have you ever prepared payesh(with nolen gur or chini), kept it fridge, and taste it chilled the very the next day? Even ever had payesh with luchi, though I did not have it. Though I prefer to simply have my payesh without any accompaniment. However, I love chilled payesh, especially in winter. You can try it once, trust me it is simply delicious.

You can use Gobindo bhog or even basmati rice for making any bengali chaler payesh recipes so on this gurer payesh too. Even you can prepare this payesh with Patali gur(solid date palm jaggery) instead of nolen gur(liquid date palm jaggery). As the solidified liquid nolen gur is itself patali gur. Liquid nolen gur(or liquid khejur gur) is less sweet than patali gur. So you can add patali gur along with nolen gur for more sweetness.

We Bengalis eagerly wait when the season’s first nolen gur comes to the market and they will make different sweets with it. Dudh puli, Nolen gurer payesh, Patishapta pitha, Gokul pithe, Choshir payesh are common sweet dishes prepared in Bengali’s Poush Parbon festival. Apart from this nolen gur er payesh, nolen gurer rosogolla, nolen gurer ice cream, nolen gurer Sandesh are also high on demand in Bengalis.

People sometimes complain, for making this nolen gurer payesh after adding gur or jaggery to the milk, it curdles. I advise them to add nolen gur or date palm jaggery, at last to this rice kheer or pudding just to avoid spoiling the milk.

We know that bengali nolen gur has an awesome and unique flavor and taste. But do you know, traditionally it is kept in the earthen pot for a long time? That earthen smell is also infused in this jaggery and takes it to another level of awesomeness?

What is nolen gur or date palm jaggery and how it’s made?

Date palm jaggery is nolen gur in our bengali language which is actually the sweet sap of date palm tree. In our Bengali language, nolen gur is also known khejur gur as this gur prepared from the khejur tree (date palm tree) sap. That sweet sap is cooked or boiled for making nolen gur or date palm jaggery. Chilling days of winter are the only season to collect that sap.

Nolen gur or date palm jaggery makers appoint some people to collect this sweet sap from the date palm tree. Those people first climb up the tree and cut most of the lower leaves of it. Then they nicely clean and trim that portion with a sharp tool to completely remove the dry skins from there. And make a deep cut and insert a spout through that cut. Lastly, they hang the earthen pot just below the spouts to fill the pots with the sweet sap.

After a few days, when the pots will be full of the sap, one early morning they bring the pots down from the tree. And then they take all the pots to the makers. The makers first, strain the sap and then cook it for a certain time to get this date palm jaggery which is nolen gur. When the gur cools down then they pour it into the fresh earthen pot and send it to the market for selling.

Try this delicious bengali style gur er payesh or rice kheer at home and tell me about your valuable feedback. Just write it down in the comment section below.

Apart from this Nolen gurer payesh try some other easy sweet recipes from my website

• Dudh puli
• Patishapta
• Choshir payesh

Nolen gurer payesh recipe | bengali rice kheer with nolen gur(date palm jaggery)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup(≈ 50g) Gobindo bhog rice or Basmati rice
• 1-liter full-fat/full cream Milk
• 10 tbsp(≈150 ml) Nolen gur or Date palm jaggery
• 2 tsp(≈ 30 ml) Ghee
• 14-15 pcs Cashew nuts
• a handful of Kismish
• 2 pcs Green Cardamom
• 1-2 pcs Bay leaves

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 1 hrs 15 mins

Served in: 1 hr 20 mins

Served for: 4-5 people

Course: Sweet dish

Cuisine: Bengali 

Author: Moumita Paul

How to make nolen gurer payesh recipe with step by step pictures

Preparation

• First, take 1/4 cup of gobindo bhog rice or basmati rice in a bowl. Then clean it for 4-5 times and soak it in enough water for 30 mins.

• At the same time, take a vessel with 1-liter full-fat milk and place it on the low heat. Let it boil for 30 mins too.

How to make nolen gurer payesh

• When the milk starts boiling, add 2 crushed green cardamom and bay leaves into the milk. Stir the milk frequently and scrap the pan’s sides too.

• After 30 mins, drain the water from the soaked rice and add it to the milk. Let the rice cook into the milk.

• Once the rice properly cooked, check it by pressing the rice grains with fingertips. If you can easily mash the rice grains that indicates the rice is perfectly cooked.

• Then add the cashew nuts and raisins or kismis(soaked in water) to the pan. Let it cook in milk for 3-4 mins.

• After that add 2 tsp of ghee to it and mix it well. Let it boil for 1-2 mins for spreading the aroma of ghee all over it.

• Then add 10 tbsp nolen gur to the pan and mix it nicely. You may add more or less gur as per your taste.

• After adding gur the consistency of this mixture will be thin, then cook it for 8-10 mins with continuous stirring. After 8-10 mins of slow cooking, the consistency must be perfect as shown in the pic below. Then turn off the flame and cool it down.

• But don’t make it too thick. As after cooling down it will automatically get a thick consistency and might get sticky too.
• When it cools down, serve this bengali nolen gurer or notun khejur gurer or patali gurer payesh. Even you may garnish it with chopped dry nuts too. Serve it with luchi, muri or have it as the way it comes.

Tips about this recipe

• Don’t use a steel vessel while making this dish.
• It’s consistency is total up to you, but don’t make it too thick.
• Continues stirring is required after adding the nolen gur to the pan to avoid burning from the bottom.
• You may keep it in the refrigerator for 1- 2 days in an airtight container.
• Aways lastly put the date palm jaggery to retain its wonderful flavor and taste into this sweet and that won’t spoil the milk too.