Sweet Tooth

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Little did I know, as a child, the sweet and white pudding would be one of my favourite dessert as a grown up. I always preferred the semi thick consistency of it and would throw tantrums if it did not match my expectations. 

The 'payasam' or 'kheer' is one of the most common dessert prepared in every household of India. And we siblings always had fetish about it. We would wait for the special occasions when this cuisine was made sometimes to satiate the Gods or sometimes to sate the paunch of the potbellied guests. 

It would take almost an hour to prepare it at the low flame when all its ingredients are being poured one after the other surely maintaining some interval. Ma would boil the milk in a huge tumbler shaped utensil made of brass. This utensil was specifically intended for the purpose of 'kheer' making only. She would keep it isolated along with a spatula made of the same metal, so that nobody uses this combo for cooking the non-vegetarian food. 

I had learnt this art of making 'payasam' from my mother. She would make me stand near the stove assigning me the duty to almost constantly stir the ingredients of the deep vessel to avoid sticking at the bottom of it. After boiling the milk, she would add the dry fruits mainly consisting of cashew, almonds, dried grapes, cardomom seeds and few more kinds of such dried fruits. I had seen her adding bayleaves too,  sometimes, basically depending on its availability at our home. She would add sugar and a special kind of rice which had a distinguished aroma and taste. 

On my extreme begging and demands, she would sometimes prepare the jaggery 'payasam' which had actually made me fall in love with the concept of this delectable dessert.

When I got married for the first time, and the kitchen was handed over to me, I had prepared this sweet dish and was able to impress many new family members. But even after mastering this dish and cooking it for several times, I still feel the butterflies flying inside my stomach each time I prepare it. This may be is the constant urge to perform better than the previous time. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I would fail. This has definitely never thwarted my love for this dish, rather had sparked the intensity to love it more.

Location: India

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