There are several varieties of 'payasams'. One is in which rice, wheat or vermicelli is boiled with milk and sweetened with sugar. It goes by the name of 'pal payasam'. Another, is made of boiled rice or dal or wheat, to which is added jaggery and coconut milk. Both are flavoured with spices.
Cook the ada in 2-3 cups of water, till it becomes soft. Strain the ada and wash it in cold water to remove the stickiness. Add 3 tbsp of water to the jaggery & melt it. Strain the melted jaggery. In a deep bottom pan, combine melted jaggery, cooked ada & 2 tsp of ghee. Cook on low – medium heat till the mixture becomes thick and start separating from the pan. Add medium thick coconut milk. Cook on medium -low heat and stir in between. When the coconut milk reduce to half the quantity, add thick coconut milk and stir well. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Kindly note that the payasam will thicken itself later on, so after adding thick coconut milk, do not keep it for a long time. Add crushed cardamoms, just before removing from the gas.
Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a pan & fry the coconut slices & cashew nuts. Add it to the payasam. Serve hot.
Ingredients:
Broken Wheat - 250g Coconut - 2 Jaggery - 500g Raisins -10g Cashew Nuts -10g Ghee -3tbs Cardamom -5g Dry ginger powder-10g Cumin Powder-10g Method of Preparation: Grate the coconut. Add1/2 glass warm water to the grated coconut. Extract the first milk. Extract the second milk by adding 1 1/2 glass warm water. Again repeat the process to extract the third milk. Fry broken wheat lightly in one teaspoon ghee. Cook the wheat well in 1 1/2 liters of water. When it is done add the third milk and the second milk to the wheat and bring to a boil. when it thickens to a semi solid consistency, add powdered jaggery. Add the first milk, fried nut, raisins, powdered Cardamom, ginger and cumin. Mix well and remove from fire immediately. Serve hot. Parippu Payasam Ingredients: Parippu (Green gram dal) - 250gm Sarkara (Jaggery) - 250gm Coconut milk - From 2 coconuts Ghee - 2 tbs Cashew nuts, Raisins - As required for seasoning Method of preparation : Fry dal till light brown. Clean and boil the fried dal well.Heat jaggery with some water and make a thick solution. Take milk from the coconut thrice. Keep the thick milk taken 1st, aside. Add the 2nd and 3rd milk and the jaggery solution to the boiled dal. Simmer on medium flame till thick. Fry the cashewnuts and Raisins in ghee. Add these and the 1st milk to the payasam . Mix well and remove from fire.
