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A bowl of chilled payesh
Serves8 servings
CuisineBangladeshi
South Asia

Payesh: A Bangladeshi Family's Chilled Rice Pudding with Saffron

How to make payesh, a chilled rice pudding of fragrant rice, milk, saffron and cashews, from one Bangladeshi family's recipe published by SBS Food. Includes clear steps, the thickness cue, how to divide and return the three cups of hot milk, and how to chill it quickly in shallow dishes.

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 21

Wash the rice

Rinsing fragrant rice in a sieve under running water
Wash the rice in water

Rinse the fragrant rice in water.

STEP 22 / 21

Soak the rice

Fragrant rice soaking in a small bowl of water
Keep the rice under the water while it soaks

Cover the washed rice with water and soak for 1 hour.

STEP 33 / 21

Drain the rice

Soaked rice draining in a sieve above a bowl
Drain the rice after soaking

Lift the soaked rice into a sieve and let the water drain away.

STEP 44 / 21

Warm the milk

Stirring milk as it warms in a heavy saucepan
Warm the milk while stirring

Pour the 1L of milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and set it over medium-low heat. Stir so it doesn't catch on the bottom, and warm it without letting it boil.

STEP 55 / 21

Add the sugar and spices

Adding sugar and whole spices from a bowl to simmering milk
Add the sugar and whole spices when the milk starts to simmer

When the milk starts to simmer, add the caster sugar, cardamom pods, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.

STEP 66 / 21

Stir the spiced milk

Stirring sweet spiced milk in a saucepan
Keep the spiced milk moving

Keep stirring so the milk doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.

STEP 77 / 21

Divide some hot milk among three cups

Pouring hot milk from the saucepan into one of three small bowls
Share the reserved hot milk among three small cups

Take about 6 Australian tbsp of hot milk from the pan and divide it among three small cups. That amount is the total for all three cups, not 6 tablespoons each, and the cups need not hold equal amounts.

STEP 88 / 21

Infuse the saffron

Adding saffron threads to a small cup of hot milk
Saffron goes into the first cup

Add the saffron to the first cup and let it infuse the milk with aroma and color.

STEP 99 / 21

Soak the rice and cashews in milk

Rice and cashews sitting in a cup of milk
Rice and cashews go into the second cup

Put the drained rice and the 10 cashews into the second cup and let them soak for a couple of minutes.

STEP 1010 / 21

Blend the rice and cashews

Rice and cashews blended to a mostly smooth paste in a food processor
Blend until mostly paste

Transfer the rice, cashews and their milk to a food processor whose maker allows warm liquids, and use it according to its instructions. Blend until most of the mixture is a paste. A few remaining grains are fine. Do not pour hot liquid into a sealed spice grinder.

STEP 1111 / 21

Dissolve the milk powder

Stirring milk powder into a cup of hot milk until smooth
Milk powder dissolves in the third cup

Add the 2 Australian tbsp of milk powder (40ml total) to the hot milk in the third cup. Stir until it has dissolved completely.

STEP 1212 / 21

Return the saffron milk

Pouring saffron milk back into the saucepan
The saffron milk goes back into the pan

Pour the saffron milk back into the saucepan.

STEP 1313 / 21

Add the rice and cashew paste

Spooning rice and cashew paste into the saucepan
The paste goes into the pan

Spoon the rice and cashew paste into the saucepan.

STEP 1414 / 21

Return the dissolved milk powder

Pouring the dissolved milk powder mixture into the saucepan
The dissolved milk powder goes back into the pan

Pour the dissolved milk powder mixture into the saucepan.

STEP 1515 / 21

Stir over low heat until thick

Stirring thickening payesh with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the pan
Stir until the spoon clears the bottom of the pan

Keep stirring over low heat until the pudding is thick and the bottom of the pan shows clearly when you scrape it with a wooden spoon.

STEP 1616 / 21

Turn off the heat

A hand turning off the stove beside a saucepan of thick payesh
Turn off the heat

Turn off the stove as soon as the pudding reaches that thickness.

STEP 1717 / 21

Remove the whole spices

Lifting bay leaves, cinnamon and cardamom pods out of the pan with a spoon
Lift out the whole spices before portioning

Use a clean spoon to lift out the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods.

STEP 1818 / 21

Add the rosewater

Adding a small spoonful of clear liquid to the pan of payesh
Add the rosewater after the heat is off

With the heat still off, add the 1/4 tsp of rosewater to the pan.

STEP 1919 / 21

Stir in the rosewater

Stirring payesh in the saucepan with a clean spoon
Mix the rosewater through the pudding

Stir with a clean spoon until the rosewater is mixed through.

STEP 2020 / 21

Portion into shallow dishes

Transferring payesh from the saucepan into shallow dishes
Divide the pudding into clean, shallow dishes

Right away, transfer the pudding into clean, shallow individual dishes. Don't leave it in the pan to cool.

STEP 2121 / 21

Refrigerate without delay

Placing covered shallow portions of payesh into a refrigerator
Move the covered portions into the refrigerator

Cover the dishes and put them straight into a refrigerator set at 4°C or below. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. This time is for texture and is not a safety check.

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Ingredients

Ingredients

1 / 1

Ingredients

Ingredient Amount Role
Fragrant rice (kalijeera or chinigura) 3 Australian tbsp The grain of the pudding, blended with the cashews
Commercially pasteurized full-cream milk 1L The body of the pudding
Caster sugar 1 Australian cup (250ml) Sweetness
Green cardamom pods 2 Whole spice, simmered in the milk
Dried bay leaves 2 Whole spice, simmered in the milk
Cinnamon stick 1 inch Whole spice, simmered in the milk
Saffron threads 1 pinch Infused in hot milk for aroma and color
Ready-to-eat unsalted cashews 10 Blended with the rice into a paste
Full-cream milk powder 2 Australian tbsp (40ml total) Dissolved in hot milk and returned to the pot
Food-grade culinary rosewater 1/4 tsp Stirred in after the heat is off
Water as needed For washing and soaking the rice
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Payesh: Fragrant Rice and Milk, Stirred Until the Spoon Clears the Pan

What this pudding should keep

Blend the rice and cashews until mostly paste, stir over low heat until a wooden spoon clears the bottom of the pan, then get the pudding into shallow dishes and into the refrigerator without delay.

Picture a small bowl of pale cream pudding with a fine rice texture and a gentle tint of saffron. This payesh begins with small, fragrant rice and a liter of full-cream milk scented with cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon. Rice, cashews, saffron and milk powder are each prepared in their own cup of hot milk before returning to the pot.

The recipe here is a single family version: SBS Food's "Payesh (Rice pudding)," credited to the family of restaurateur Rashedul Hasan. SBS labels it Bangladeshi and says it is often served at Eid in Bangladesh. It is one example, not a national standard, and other Bangladeshi payesh recipes differ considerably. The yield of 8 servings is the figure SBS publishes, not one measured in a test cook.

What This Version Changes from the SBS Recipe

Sekai Gohan has not kitchen-tested this recipe as a whole. The amounts and the main sequence follow SBS. A few practical choices were added or changed for this article, and they are not SBS instructions.

SBS uses Australian measures: 1 tsp = 5ml, 1 tbsp = 20ml and 1 cup = 250ml. The milk powder is 2 tablespoons in all, which comes to 40ml by volume in total.

Point SBS recipe This version
Milk Full-cream milk Commercially pasteurized full-cream milk
Cashews Cashews Ready-to-eat, unsalted cashews
Rosewater 1/4 tsp in the ingredient list, with no step in the method Food-grade culinary rosewater, stirred in after the heat is off
Whole spices No instruction to remove them Lifted out after the heat is off, before portioning, for easier eating
Returning the three cups All three go back into the pot, with no order given Saffron milk, then rice-cashew paste, then dissolved milk powder, shown one at a time for clarity
Blending Spice grinder or food processor Only a food processor whose maker allows warm liquids, used according to its instructions
After cooking Transfer to a serving dish, rest at room temperature for 1 hour, then chill for at least 30 minutes No room-temperature rest: portion into clean, shallow dishes and refrigerate without delay

The images illustrate each action. They do not prove amounts, temperatures, product types or food safety.

Ingredients: Serves 8

The ingredients for payesh set out separately
Fragrant rice, milk, sugar, whole spices, saffron, cashews, milk powder, rosewater and water

The hot milk for the three small cups comes out of the 1L in the pot, so it is not an extra ingredient. About 6 Australian tbsp is the total for all three cups, not the amount for each.

Choosing and Swapping

  • Rice: If you can't find kalijeera or chinigura, use basmati or another small-grain fragrant rice.
  • Milk: Use commercially pasteurized full-cream milk. Raw milk is not part of this version.
  • Cashews: Choose ready-to-eat, unsalted cashews and check the package to confirm.
  • Rosewater: Choose a product labeled food-grade and intended for cooking.
Allergens

This pudding contains milk, milk powder and cashews. Check the labels on the products you buy for allergens and possible cross-contact.

Equipment

  • Fine sieve
  • Small bowl for soaking the rice
  • Heavy-bottomed saucepan
  • Wooden spoon
  • Clean spoon for lifting out the spices and stirring in the rosewater
  • Three small cups or bowls
  • Food processor whose maker allows warm liquids
  • Measuring spoons and a measuring cup
  • Clean, shallow individual dishes with covers

Cooling and Serving

A small bowl of chilled payesh on a simple table
Serve the payesh chilled, with no garnish needed

This version skips the room-temperature rest in the SBS recipe. The UK Food Standards Agency's general advice for leftover cooked rice is to chill it as quickly as possible, ideally within one hour. It adds that dividing rice into smaller portions can help and that it should not be left in the pan to cool. That advice is applied here as general guidance for a dish containing rice, and it is not a Payesh-specific test. FoodSafety.gov also advises refrigerating perishable food without delay, using shallow containers for quick cooling and keeping the refrigerator at or below 40°F/4°C. Its general maximum of 2 hours unrefrigerated, or 1 hour when the surrounding temperature is above 90°F/32°C, is a limit and not a waiting time. SBS's chill of at least 30 minutes is kept only as a serving cue for texture. It does not confirm safety, and this article does not set a keeping time.

Troubleshooting

What you see What to do
The milk is catching on the bottom of the pan Stay at medium-low heat and keep stirring
The milk has reached a simmer Add the sugar and whole spices now, without waiting for a boil
Some rice grains remain after blending A few are fine. If most of the mixture isn't paste yet, keep blending, following your processor's instructions
The milk powder is still lumpy in its cup Keep stirring until it has dissolved completely, then return it to the pan
The spoon doesn't clear the bottom of the pan Keep stirring over low heat. The thickness is your cue, so there is no set time to follow

Variations

  • A different rice: SBS allows basmati or another small-grain fragrant rice when kalijeera or chinigura isn't available. The other amounts stay the same.
  • A garnish: SBS lists 1 tsp of crushed nuts and edible flowers as optional. They are not part of the base recipe here.
  • Other Bangladeshi versions: Compassion International's Explorer site publishes a Bangladesh-labeled payesh with basmati, saffron, bay, cardamom and mixed nuts. Nestlé Bangladesh's brand recipe cooks milk powder in water, then crushes pulao rice, fries it in ghee and cooks it in the milk. These are separate recipes with their own methods, so don't mix their amounts or steps into this one.

Payesh in Context

SBS describes this payesh as often served at Eid in Bangladesh, a description that comes from SBS's introduction to this family recipe. It does not establish a custom for every household or every Eid. The other recipes above show that "payesh" can cover quite different methods, even among those labeled Bangladeshi. For more dishes from the country, see the Bangladesh page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use basmati instead of kalijeera or chinigura?

Yes. The SBS recipe permits basmati or another small-grain fragrant rice if kalijeera or chinigura isn't available.

Why divide the hot milk into three cups?

Each cup has its own job: one infuses the saffron, one holds the rice and cashews before blending, and one dissolves the milk powder. All three then return to the pot. SBS doesn't set an order for returning them, so the order in this article is an editorial choice. About 6 Australian tbsp is the total for all three cups, and SBS doesn't specify the amount for each.

How thick should the pudding be?

Stir over low heat until it is thick and the bottom of the pan is clear when scraped with a wooden spoon. That is the cue SBS gives, and this article adds no temperature or cooking time.

Why not rest it at room temperature before chilling?

SBS rests the pudding in its serving dish for 1 hour at room temperature. This version leaves that out and refrigerates shallow portions without delay, in line with the general cooling advice from the UK Food Standards Agency and FoodSafety.gov. That advice is not specific to payesh, and the minimum 30-minute chill is a texture cue rather than a safety guarantee.

Sources

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