Doodhpak

Doodhpak is a Gujarati sweet in which a small amount of rice is simmered in milk until soft. When you scoop it with a spoon, you can see grains of rice and finely chopped nuts in the milk. It uses saffron, cardamom, nutmeg and the like, and with the amount of rice kept low, it is finished so that the flavor of the reduced milk takes center stage.

A rice sweet in which milk is the star

Its ingredients overlap with South Asian kheer made with rice, but Gujarati households sometimes distinguish between kheer, which contains more rice and is thick, and doodhpak, which uses less rice so that the milk can be savored. However, the ratio of rice to milk varies from household to household, and no fixed proportion marks the boundary between the two names.

Basundi, which is likewise made by reducing milk, generally contains no rice. The rice grains floating in the milk of doodhpak are a clue for telling the two sweets apart.

Some methods soak raw rice before adding it to the milk, and others use cooked rice. When starting from raw rice, the rice is cooked through to the center while the water in the milk is also evaporated. A heavy-bottomed pot is used, and the mixture is stirred continuously so that milk sticking to the bottom does not scorch.

It is also important not to leave large pieces of milk skin, but to blend them into the whole while stirring. If you plan when to add the sugar and nuts and reduce the milk with its thickness after cooling in mind, it will be finished at a consistency in which the rice grains flow within the milk.

Differences in nuts and spices

In addition to almonds and pistachios, small kernels called charoli are sometimes used as the nuts. Some are thinly sliced and some are added whole, giving a slight bite to the softness of the milk. If the saffron is first steeped in a little milk and then returned to the pot, its color and aroma can be blended throughout.

Nutmeg, too, is not only added as a powder; in some household methods a whole nutmeg is put into the milk, simmered to release its flavor and removed at the end. Even with the same spice, the way its aroma comes out changes depending on whether it is chopped, ground, steeped or simmered.

Charoli kernels with a coin for size comparison. Photo: Badagnani, Kent, Ohio, United States, 2009. Reduced-size version from the distributor used; no content changes after retrieval (source, CC BY-SA 3.0).

Sweet milk eaten with fried bread

Doodhpak is not simply a sweet served chilled after a meal. In one pairing, it is accompanied by puri, a fried bread, which is dipped into the milk. Some households serve it warm, while others make it the day before, chill it and pair it with hot puri. Because the bread soaks up the milk, keeping the doodhpak fluid also serves a purpose.

Puri being fried in Kolkata. Photo: Ravi Dwivedi, 2022. Reduced-size version from the distributor used; no content changes after retrieval (source, CC BY-SA 4.0).

It is also made for shraddha, which honors ancestors, for festivals such as Diwali, and for meals to welcome guests. One Vaishnav family’s recollections include a memory of doodhpak, a favorite of the grandfather, being served at lunch for the family gathered for Diwali. During the festive period, they are said to have prepared sweet milk on Dhanteras and boondi laddu on Diwali itself.

Glossary