Description
Choshi is a tiny Elliptical shaped Pithe either prepared with a paste of Rice flour or all-purpose Flour. The Choshi is cooked with milk and jaggery and turned into Choshir Payesh. This is a signature Bengali dessert cooked during Makar Sankranti.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
To make Choshi:
- 100g Gobindobhog Rice
- 1 Tbsp. Semolina
- 1 pinch Salt: 1 pinch (optional)
- 1 cup Hot Water
To Make Choshir Payesh:
- 1 cup Choshi
- 2 liters Full-Cream Milk
- 300g Date Palm Jaggery aka Patali Gur
- 1 Tsp. Ghee
- 1 Bay Leaf (optional)
Instructions
To make Choshi:
- Wash Rice 2-3 times under running water and sundry the rice completely. This will take around two days to completely sundry the rice.
- Now make a fine powder of the rice. You can make the Rice Powder in bulk and use it as and when required.
- Take 100g Rice Powder and Semolina in a bowl along with a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly.
- Now add 2-3 Tbsp. hot water and start kneading.
- Add water little by little to make a tight dough.
- Once the dough is prepared cover it with a wet cloth and give rest for 15 minutes.
- Now take a pinch size dough and using your finger give it an elliptical shape. It should look like a rice grain both in size and shape.
- Following the same process make the rest of the "Choshi".
- The size of Choshi varies from person to person, however, I prefer the rice grain size.
- Once prepared sundry the Choshi completely. You can store excess Choshi in an airtight container.
To make Choshir Payesh:
- Take the milk in a deep bottom pan and start boiling it after adding 2 cups of water and 1 bay leaf till the milk reduces to 2/3.
- Add Ghee in between.
- Once the milk reduces to 2/3, add 1 Cup of Choshi to the milk and keep cooking on low flame.
- Cook until the milk thickens and Choshi turned translucent in color.
- Add Date Palm Jaggery and mix thoroughly and cook for 5 minutes and then switch the flame off.
- Serve Choshir Payesh at room temperature. I, however, prefer to serve it after storing it for one day in the refrigerator.
Notes
- You can purchase Choshi directly from the market instead of preparing at home.
- While making the Choshi at home, you can use readily available rice flour instead of making it at home.
- Some people prefer to fry the choshi before adding it to the milk, however, I don't do that. Given when the choshi added directly to the milk rice residue extracted from it helps to thicken the milk quickly and also gives extra flavor.
- I don't add any dry fruits in Choshir Payesh. You can obviously add your choice of dry fruits to make it richer.
- You can substitute Date Palm Jaggery completely with Sugar or use both. however, the jaggery gives an amazing flavor to the Choshir Payesh.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: Bengali
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 200ml
- Calories: 1110
- Sugar: 75g
- Fat: 42.1g
- Saturated Fat: 25.5g
- Carbohydrates: 150.4g
- Fiber: 0.4g
- Protein: 38.4g
- Cholesterol: 159mg