Ney Payasam

There are dishes that fill your stomach, and then there are those that fill your soul. Ney Payasam is the latter. Thick, dark, and slow-cooked in ghee and jaggery, it’s more than just a dessert. It is memory. It is grief. It is devotion.

This isn’t the kind of payasam that’s served casually after a feast. Ney Payasam belongs to moments when the air is heavy with incense and silence. It’s offered in temples, especially during rituals like Pooja or prasadam offerings, where food isn’t just food-it becomes language between the living and the divine. The scent of it-cooked raw rice, melting jaggery, generous spoonfuls of ghee-carries through the air like a prayer.

There’s a kind of slowness to Ney Payasam that teaches you something. The rice isn’t just boiled-it’s allowed to soften gently in the thick sweetness, stirred patiently so it doesn’t stick, until it reaches that unmistakable deep bronze hue. Cashews and raisins are sometimes added, but even without them, it tastes complete. The ghee doesn’t just add richness-it gives the payasam its name, its identity, its warmth.

Kamala Das-Madhavikutty-once wrote a haunting story titled Neypayasam, using this humble dish to hold unbearable grief. That’s the kind of emotional weight this payasam carries. It’s thick with more than ghee and jaggery-it holds silence, memory, faith, even sorrow.

Yet, for all its intensity, Ney Payasam is comforting. One spoonful, warm and fragrant, and you feel the hug of a hundred rituals, of generations who stirred it before you. It doesn’t beg for attention. It sits quietly in its steel bowl or banana leaf cup, shining dark and deep, waiting for you to feel its warmth.

You don’t really eat Ney Payasam. You receive it.

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Ney Payasam

Author: Ushadevi Cooking Method: Boiling, Simmering Cuisine: Kerala Courses: Sweets & Desserts, Vegetarian

Difficulty: Intermediate Prep Time 20 mins Cook Time 25 mins Total Time 45 mins

Cooking Temp: 130  C Servings: 5

Best Season: Suitable throughout the year, Rain

Ingredients

Scale

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• 1 cup Brown Raw Rice (Unakalari)
• ³⁄₄ cup Jaggery
• 2 tablespoon 2-3 Ghee
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon Cardamom powder
• 1 tablespoon Coconut stripes
• 2 Banana (sliced)
• 10 Black Raisins (optional)
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoon Rock Sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. Ney Payasam or Ghee Kheer is Kerala’s own special dessert, often prepared as a divine offering in temples. But today, let’s make it at home.
2. Take brown raw rice (Unakkalari) and wash it well. Cook the rice and keep it aside.
3. Melt jaggery in a little water.
4. (There are two varieties of jaggery-black and white. White jaggery is yellowish in color and usually preferred for payasam.)
5. Strain the jaggery syrup to remove impurities and pour it into an Uruli (traditional brass vessel).
6. (If you don’t have an Uruli, use any heavy-bottomed pan.)
7. When the jaggery syrup starts to boil, add the cooked rice and mix well.
8. Add 2-3 tablespoons of ghee. You can add more if you prefer a richer flavor.
9. Sprinkle in some cardamom powder and combine everything well.
10. In a separate pan, heat some ghee. Fry thin coconut strips until golden.
11. To the same ghee, add banana slices and sauté until soft and lightly caramelized.
12. Add the fried coconut strips, banana slices, and the remaining ghee to the payasam and mix gently.
13. Garnish with black raisins and rock sugar (kalkandam) if desired.
14. Your Ney Payasam is ready! Serve warm or at room temperature. A traditional taste of Kerala, now made in your kitchen.