Sweet bhog of Lakshmi Puja

Sweet dishes are an essential part of Lakshmi Puja bhog. On this day, special Gur Payesh is served to Goddess Lakshmi, in which jaggery is used as a sweetening agent instead of sugar. We share a simple recipe of the dish that takes not more than 20 minutes to prepare. 

RECIPE OF GUR PAYESH

•    Ingredients
Milk- 2 litres
Rice- 2 cups 
Jaggery- 2 cups 
Cardamom- 2 pods 
Ghee- 2tbsp 
Cashew nuts- 10 (soaked in water) Raisins- 10 (soaked in water) 

•    Procedure

1.    Boil the milk till it bubbles. Then add rice to the milk and continue boiling it until the milk reduces to half. 
2.    Stir the milk and rice constantly so that it doesn't thicken unevenly. 
3.    Now, add the powdered gur or jaggery to the pot and stir constantly. 
4.    Heat ghee in a pan and put cashew and raisins in the pan for 2-3 minutes on a low flame.
5.    Add cardamom pods for flavour. Garnish the gurpayesh with fried cashew and raisins. 

You can serve it hot or cold. Folklore says if this payeshis kept under the moonlight of Kojagari Purnima, it turns to ‘amrit’ or elixir.