Kishmish in the payesh, kaju in the polao: dry fruits for Durga Puja and Bijoya cooking

Here is where each one goes, and how much to keep in.

Why the Puja kitchen needs a proper stock

For the days of Durga Puja, much of Kolkata eats out, at the pandals and with friends. But the home kitchen does not stop. There are guests dropping in through the Puja days, and then Bijoya Dashami, when people visit elders and relatives and every house keeps something sweet and something salty ready for the visitors who keep coming for days.

That is a lot of payesh, polao and nimki. It is easier to buy dry fruits once, before Puja, than to run out on Nabami.

Payesh: kishmish, and kaju if you like

Payesh is rice slow-cooked in milk until thick, sweetened, and scented with elaichi and a bay leaf. Kishmish is the dry fruit that belongs in it. Many homes add a few cashews too.

• Kishmish: about 2 tablespoons for a litre of milk. Soak them in warm water for ten minutes and add them near the end, so they plump without splitting. Kishmis (Lambi Dakh) is the long, golden kind that looks right in a pale payesh.
• Kaju: 8–10, split or chopped, lightly fried in ghee.
• Tej patta and elaichi: one bay leaf and two or three crushed green elaichi pods.

The rice, usually Gobindobhog in Bengali homes, and the milk and sugar are for you to buy locally.

A word on choosing kishmish. Good ones are plump, even in colour and slightly sticky, not dry and rattling in the pack. Pick out any that are hard or very dark before they go in, because one bad raisin shows in a pale payesh. Add them on a low simmer in the last few minutes rather than at a rolling boil, so they swell gently and stay whole. The same care applies to the kishmish in polao: fry them only until they puff, which takes seconds, or they turn bitter.

Basanti polao: kaju and kishmish on show

Basanti polao is the sweet, yellow, ghee-rich pulao that turns up at every Bengali celebration. The kaju and kishmish are fried in ghee and stirred through, and they are meant to be seen.

For 500 g of rice, a typical quantity is:

• Kaju: 50 g, whole or halved
• Kishmish: 30–40 g
• Whole spices: 2 bay leaves, 4–5 green elaichi, 4–5 laung, a small piece of dalchini

Because the cashews are visible here, whole ones look better than broken. Regular Cashew is a whole kernel at a fair price. For payesh or anything ground, broken pieces are perfectly good. Our guide to kaju grades explains why the two cost different amounts.

Bijoya nimki and home-made sweets

Nimki, the crisp, salty, diamond-cut fried snack, is what many Kolkata homes make for Bijoya visitors. It has no dry fruits in it, but it is flavoured with kalo jeere. Kalonji is what we call it on our shelf; half a teaspoon is enough for 250 g of maida.

For the sweet side of the plate, home-made sandesh and other chhana sweets are often finished with a pinch of green pista on top. Pista Katran is already slivered, so it goes straight on without chopping, and a 100 g pack decorates a great many sweets.

A shopping list for the Puja week

At the time of writing, kishmish runs around ₹600–₹680 a kilo and kaju around ₹930–₹1,480 depending on grade. You can see today’s dry fruit prices in Kolkata on our city page, and browse the kishmish and raisin shelf.

Prices on this page were checked in September 2026 and are a guide only. Dry fruit rates change with the crop and the season, so our product pages always show today’s price.

Delivery to Kolkata from our counter in Rajasthan usually takes 4–6 days, so order a week or more before Mahalaya. It is free on every order, and orders start at ₹1,500. Once opened, keep the packs airtight, because Kolkata’s damp autumn air softens nuts quickly.

Questions people ask