from 'The World's Oldest Rice Pudding
By Kurma Dasa' http://kurma.net/

There comes a time in every writer's life for an office cleanup. A couple of weeks ago I took the plunge. Hoping to discover a few long-forgotten bits and pieces in the process, I sorted through twenty-six years of accumulated paperwork and files. I wasn't disappointed…

But the recipe that made the two-day cleanup really worthwhile was a 2000 year-old recipe for rice pudding from an old Indian temple kitchen. Yamuna Devi, a friend and celebrated cooking writer had discovered the recipe on one of her numerous trips to the subcontinent, and had written some notes to accompany the recipe.
Here's an excerpt from what she had to say:

"Of all the world's exceptional kitchens, perhaps none are as grand as the kitchen compound of the Jagannatha Temple in Puri, Orissa, that basks on India's eastern seaboard adjoining the Bay of Bengal…

Although non-Hindus are strictly forbidden from entering the Jagannatha Temple or it's kitchens, visitors to Jagannatha Puri's bustling markets can purchase a huge variety of temple kitchen prasadam for a small price, some still hot and in it's original clay cooking pots…"

Not long after rediscovering the recipe, I cooked the rice pudding, and I must say it was delicious. Here then is the original recipe for bhat payasa, the rich rice pudding cooked daily at the Jagannatha Temple kitchen. This recipe has not changed in two thousand years.

2 tablespoons ghee or unsalted butter
3/4 cup long grained rice, washed and dried
1/2 bay leaf
2 litres milk
1/2 cup ground rock sugar, or raw sugar
1/4 cup currants
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
one pin-head quantity of pure cooking camphor (optional)
1 tablespoon toasted nuts for garnish

Heat the ghee or butter in a heavy pot over medium heat, and toast the rice for a minute.

Add the bay leaf and milk. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally,
until reduced to half it's original volume.

Add the sweetener, currants, and cardamom, and simmer the mixture until it reaches one fourth of it's original volume, and is thick and creamy.

Stir in the optional camphor, and cool to room temperature, or refrigerate until chilled.

Serve garnished with the toasted nuts.

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