Want to serve something unique and special for this festive season? Then, Gehu-Chawal Kheer can be your perfect option. It is a traditional Konkani-style sweet dish made with wheat, rice, and jaggery combined. The flavourful dessert is scrumptious, rich and super-creamy. A special kind of rice, called Kolam, is used in preparing this dessert. It is a medium-sized, spongy rice, which has a subtle mouthfeel, emanating flower-like scent when cooked and is effortlessly eatable.
The sweet dish incorporates gehu, or whole wheat, making it a special and healthy treat. The jaggery infused gorgeous golden dessert smoothly blends with the aromatic spices. The mouth-melting texture, taste and nutritional content of Gehu-Chawal Kheer would compete fiercely with any dessert, such is its goodness.
Gehu-Chawal Kheer is a core element of Marathi cuisine. Kheer is referred to by a variety of names, such as – payasam, payesh, phirni and so on. Do you know where the name comes from? The term ‘kheer’ is a refined version of the Sanskrit word ‘Kshirika’, which denotes a dish with milk or ‘Ksheer’. It is among the earliest foods known to humankind and was presumably created by the ancient Ayurvedic tradition. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata from 400 BC include the earliest written descriptions of this dessert. It is frequently offered at festivals and special days. It was also prepared to offer the Gods during specific religious rituals in southern India between 300 BC and 1279 AD.
Relish this thick, creamy Gehu-Chawal Kheer, absolutely guilt-free. As it serves a significant amount of nourishment too! It contains a lot of dietary minerals, vitamins, vital fatty acids, and amino acids apart from the authentic aromatic flavours.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Servings: 4 bowls
Ingredients:
- ½ cup kolam rice
- ½ cup whole wheat
- 1¼ cup jaggery (crushed)
- 1 litre coconut milk (thickened)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- 1 pinch cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp jaifal powder
Method:
- Take a bowl and clean, rinse the wheat.
- Drain the water and soak the wheat in enough warm water for 2-3 hours.
- In another bowl, clean, rinse and soak rice in warm water for 2-3 hours.
- In a mixer, coarsely blend the wheat with a little water.
- In a pressure cooker, add the grinded wheat along with water and salt.
- Cook over low heat for a few minutes, until the wheat is tender and soft.
- Transfer the soaked rice into the pressure cooker.
- Add some more water. Cook until the water evaporates.
- Now, add jaggery into it, followed by the coconut milk.
- Transfer the cooked meal into a large deep vessel over low flame.
- Combine the ingredients thoroughly.
- Add more coconut milk and let it simmer over low heat for 35-40 minutes.
- Keep stirring the kheer to prevent it from sticking at the bottom.
- Add the spices - cardamom, cinnamon and jaifal powder - to the kheer, while stirring over low flame.
- Combine well and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes. Simmer until the milk is thickened.
- Serve warm or cold.
Points to remember:
- Decorate it with crushed cashews, almonds and pistachios.
- Enrich the dessert with spices like cardamom, or saffron.
