How to Make Authentic Pithe & Payesh at Home (Step-by-Step Guide)

Chushi Pitha, also called Choshi Pitha or Choshir Payesh, is a quintessential Bengali dessert. This is typically made during Makar Sankranti. It is an exotic dish that features choshi, tiny hand-rolled bits of dough, cooked in thickened milk sweetened with the deeply aromatic khejur gur, the jaggery made from date-palm. I am calling it exotic because people barely make it anymore.

The choshi, resembling Italian orzo in shape, is traditionally made from rice flour. Having said that, many, including my grandmother, preferred using maida for ease of handling and longer shelf life. Once shaped, the choshi are dried and stored in an airtight container. They can be lightly fried in ghee and added to the milk when needed. The result is a bowl of payesh that’s creamy, rich, and satisfying with a delicate chew from the ghee-fried choshi.

Today, I find immense joy in making chusir payesh myself. Sitting down with a bowl of dough, rolling each piece on my palm, and shaping them is therapeutic. It feels like a connection to my grandmother and the past, a way of keeping traditions alive. The payoff, of course, is unparalleled. A warm bowl of Chushi Pitha, with the flavours of ghee-fried choshi and nolen gur blending into thickened milk, is a reminder of how simple ingredients can create something extraordinary. Every bite carries a taste of satisfaction of creating something with my hands.

Ingredients 

Chushi Ingredients

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• a pinch of salt
• ½ tsp ghee

Chushi’r Payesh

• 1.5 lt milk
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp ghee
• nolen gur to taste
• ¼ quantity of chushi

Method 

To make chushi

1. Take all purpose flour, add a pinch of salt and mix it with ghee in a mixing bowl
2. Then slowly add warm water and knead it to make a firm dough.
3. You will need probably one fourth of this to make the payesh and the rest of the choshi, you can make and store in an air-tight container.
4. Take small pinches of the dough and shape into a rice grain on the palm of your hand- just like the Italian orzo
5. It takes a bit of practice and a whole lot of patience to get it right but once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy.
6. If you feel they are sticking to each other, dust a little bit of flour.
7. Now either sun dry it or the easier method is to place these on butter paper and pre heat the oven at 100 degree.
8. Keep the choshi pitha in the oven for 5-10 minutes till they dry out but don’t really change the colour.
9. Take them out and once cooled down, you can store them in an air tight container.

To make payesh

1. Take 1.5 lts of whole milk and cook it to reduce the quantity by half. Keep stirring or else milk will burn at the bottom.
2. While the milk is reducing (about two thirds), add 1 tbsp sugar and let it continue reducing.
3. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a frying pan and fry the chosi till they are lightly coloured.
4. Add this to the reduced milk and continue simmering for about 5 minutes.
5. At that point, turn off the heat and add jhola gur (nolen gur) to taste.
6. Mix it well and then cover and instantly take it off the heat. Serve chosir payesh chilled.

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