{{Short description|Sweet pudding dish from Indian subcontinent}} {{distinguish|Kheer (Bengali sweets)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2024}} {{Infobox food | name = Kheer | image = Kheer.jpg | image_size = 300px | caption = A bowl of kheer | alternate_name = ksheeram, doodhpak, meetha bhat (sometimes misunderstood as mayasam) | country = South Asia | region = | creator = | course = Dessert | served = | main_ingredient = Rice, milk, sugar, cardamom, jaggery, saffron, pistachios or almonds | variations = Vermicelli (semiya) kheer, Barley kheer, kaddu ki kheer, paal (milk) payasam, payesh, chhanar payesh (payesh made with chhana or paneer) | calories = 249 | other = | type = Pudding }}
'''Kheer''', '''khir, payesh, fenni,''' or '''payasam''' is a pudding or porridge (specifically rice pudding) popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice. It can be additionally flavoured with dried fruits, nuts, cardamom and saffron. Instead of rice, it may contain cracked wheat, vermicelli (sevai), sago or tapioca (sabudana).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Best rated puddings in the world |url=https://www.tasteatlas.com/best-rated-puddings-in-the-world |access-date= |website=www.tasteatlas.com}}</ref>
In Northern India, it is made in various ways. The most popular versions are the ones made with rice and vermicelli (semiya).<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Best rated puddings in the world |url=https://www.tasteatlas.com/best-rated-puddings-in-the-world |access-date= |website=www.tasteatlas.com}}</ref> In Nepal, it tends to be thicker and uses fewer ingredients.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 September 2025 |title=Have No Fear, You Can Make Kheer Here! – The Wesleyan Argus |url=https://wesleyanargus.com/2013/10/28/kheer/ |access-date=18 September 2025 |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Etymology== The word ''kheer'' is derived from the Sanskrit word ''kshira'' (क्षीर), which means milk or a "milk-based dish".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Monier-Williams |first=Sir Monier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzRDAQAAMAAJ&dq=Kshira+milk&pg=PA268 |title=A Sanskṛit-English Dictionary Etymologically and Philologically Arranged: With Special Reference to Greek, Latin, Gothic, German, Anglo-Saxon, and Other Cognate Indo-European Languages |date=1872 |publisher=Clarendon Press |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Kheer: An Essential Dish {{!}} Civilization of India |url=https://people.smu.edu/hist2390/2020/06/29/kheer-an-essential-dish/ |access-date=10 September 2024 |website=people.smu.edu}}</ref> Kheer is also the archaic name for sweet rice pudding.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 December 2013 |title=DS group enters dairy market, with 'ksheer' - Hindustan Times |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/ds-group-enters-dairy-market-with-ksheer/article1-1112050.aspx |access-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220090554/http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/ds-group-enters-dairy-market-with-ksheer/article1-1112050.aspx |archive-date=20 December 2013 }}</ref>
The word ''payasam'' used in South India for kheer originates from the Sanskrit term ''pāyasa'' (पायस), which means "milk" or a dish made from milk. This term evolved into various regional languages, including Malayalam (പായസം, pāyasaṁ), Telugu (పాయసం, pāyasaṁ), Kannada (ಪಾಯಸ, pāyasa), and Tamil (பாயசம், pāyacam).<ref>{{Cite web |title=payasam |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/payasam_n?tl=true#:~:text=Where%20does%20the%20noun%20payasam%20come%20from?&text=The%20earliest%20known%20use%20of,:%20Tamil%20p%C4%81yasam;%20Sanskrit%20p%C4%81yasa. |website=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref>
==Origin==
A story from Kerala titled "The Legend of Chessboard", holds that an old sage, who was Krishna in disguise, challenged the king of ''Ambalapuzha'' (chess enthusiasts) to a game. To motivate the sage, the king offered anything the old man would name. The sage modestly asked for a few grains of rice but with one condition: the king must put a single grain of rice on the first chess square and double it on every subsequent one.
Krishna, as the sage, won the game and the king started placing the grains. As he stacked them, he was shocked to see the number grow exponentially. In the end, the number came up to trillions. Krishna reveals himself and asks the king to provide kheer to every pilgrim who comes to what is now the Ambalapuzha Krishna Temple in the Alappuzha District, which still follows this command.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 June 2020 |title=History of Indian Food |url=http://www.haldiramusa.com/History_Indian_Food.htm |access-date=25 April 2024 |website=Haldiram USA |archive-date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118172506/http://www.haldiramusa.com/History_Indian_Food.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
According to the food historian K. T. Achaya, kheer (or ''payasam'', as it is known in South India) was a popular dish in ancient India. First mentioned in ancient Indian literature, it was a mixture of rice, milk and sugar. ''Payasam'' was also a staple food in Hindu temples in particular, where it is served as ''Prasāda'' to devotees.<ref name="ht">{{Cite news |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/a-truly-international-dessert/story-kfaP9BbuLcuyvCr5A03VGL.html|title=A truly international dessert|date=3 October 2009|work=Hindustan Times}}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Mixed Dry Fruit Kheer - Home - Chandigarh - India - 00011.jpg|Kheer topped with dried fruits and nuts File:Rice pudding also called payasam or kheer.jpg|Kheer File:Paal payasam.JPG|Paal payasam File:Milk kheer.jpg|Kheer with vermicelli (called seviyan kheer, semiya payasam or shemai) File:Semiya Payasam Vermicelli Kheer.jpg|Vermicelli kheer </gallery>
==See also== * Porridge * Phirni – a dessert made with ground rice or rice flour cooked in milk and eaten chilled * Shir Berenj – Persian rice pudding * Doodhpak – Gujarati rice pudding * Shemai – Bengali vermicelli pudding * Sheer khurma – Persian vermicelli pudding
==References== {{Reflist}}
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