Kheer, khir or payasam is a pudding or porridge popular in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, usually made by boiling

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

jaggery Jaggery is a List of unrefined sweeteners, traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice, cane jui ...

, and

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. It can be additionally flavoured with dried fruits, nuts, cardamom and saffron. Instead of rice, it may contain cracked wheat, vermicelli ( sevai),

sago Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...

or tapioca (sabudana). In Northern India, it is made in various ways. The most popular versions are the ones made with rice and vermicelli (semiya).

Etymology

The word ''kheer'' is derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word '' kshira'' (क्षीर), which means

or a milk-based dish. Kheer is also the archaic name for sweet rice pudding. The word ''payasam'' used in South India for kheer originates from the

term ''pāyasa'' (पायस), which means "milk" or a dish made from milk. This term evolved into various regional languages, including

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

(പായസം, pāyasaṁ), Telugu (పాయసం, pāyasaṁ), and Tamil (பாயசம், pāyacam).

Origin

It is said to have originated initially in South India thousands of years ago. The story is titled "The Legend of Chessboard" in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, an old sage in the form of Krishna challenged the king of Ambalapuzha (chess enthusiasts) to play chess. To motivate the sage, the king offered anything that the sage would name. The sage modestly asked just for a few grains of rice but under one condition: the king has to put a single grain of rice on the first chess square and double it on every subsequent one. Lord Krishna (the sage) won the game and the king started placing the grains. As he stacked them, he was shocked to see the number grow exponentially. In the end, the number came up to trillions. Krishna reveals himself and asks the king to provide kheer to every pilgrim who comes to his temple there. The Ambalapuzha Krishna temple still follows this and it is located in Kerala's Alappuzha district. According to the food historian K. T. Achaya, kheer or ''payasam'', as it is known in southern India, was a popular dish in

ancient India Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...

. First mentioned in ancient Indian literature, it was a mixture of rice, milk and sugar, a formula that has endured for over two thousand years. ''Payasam'' was also a staple

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

temple food, in particular, and it is served as '' Prasāda'' to devotees in temples.

Gallery

File:Mixed Dry Fruit Kheer - Home - Chandigarh - India - 00011.jpg, Kheer topped with dried fruits and nuts File:Rice pudding also called payasam or kheer.jpg, Kheer File:Paal payasam.JPG, Paal payasam File:Milk kheer.jpg, Kheer with vermicelli (called seviyan kheer, semiya payasam or shemai) File:Semiya Payasam Vermicelli Kheer.jpg, Vermicelli kheer

References

{{portalbar, Food Pakistani rice dishes Bangladeshi rice dishes Indian rice dishes North Indian cuisine Muhajir cuisine Bihari cuisine Uttar Pradeshi cuisine Indian desserts Nepalese cuisine Bangladeshi desserts Odia cuisine Rice pudding Telangana cuisine Hyderabadi cuisine Punjabi cuisine Fijian desserts Kerala cuisine Tamil cuisine Indian cuisine Pakistani cuisine Sri Lankan cuisine Indo-Caribbean cuisine

Etymology

Origin

Gallery

See also

References