Healthy Foodist
PAAL PAYASAM
Difficulty:
Preparation Time:
10 Minutes
Cooking Time:
30 Minutes
Total Time:
40 Minutes
Servings:
4
South India’s most quintessential dessert, Payasam, similar to North Indian Kheer, is a classic, traditional pudding recipe prepared during festivals or as ‘prasadam’ (offering to God). Out of the many variations of Payasam, few include using Vermicelli, Sago or grains like broken wheat, rice, millets or moong dal to make this delicious festive recipe. This dessert is the heart of any elaborate Sadya (traditional feast), and gives a perfect ending to it.
The recipe here is a beautiful amalgamation of rice, coconut milk and jaggery, cooked together to get a heavenly tasting Rice Pudding, also known as Paal Payasam. Coconut milk is the star of this dish that yields a luscious creamy texture to the payasam. This is also the reason that I did not need to add ghee here as the creaminess of coconut milk is well enough for the recipe, and also makes this dessert Vegan. The making of this payasam is quite minimal and simple, yet so rich in taste, you might just need no reason at all to make and indulge into it. Apart from the Onam festival, Paal Payasam is also prepared during Pongal, the festival celebrating harvest and bounty.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice
- 3 cups water + more if required
- 2 cups coconut milk, divided
- 1.5 cups jaggery (grated or powder)
- 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 7-8 almonds, slivered (for garnish)
Direction:
- Take 1 cup of washed rice in a non-stick pan. Add 3 cups of water and 1 cup coconut milk to it. Turn on the gas flame, close the lid and let it cook on low-medium heat for 10-12 mins or until done.
- Make sure to keep a check while the rice is cooking so as to avoid the milk frothing up and overflowing from the pan.
- Once the rice is fully cooked, add 1.5 cups of grated/ powdered jaggery. Mix well and let the jaggery melt completely into the rice.
- Slightly mash the cooked rice and jaggery mixture to make sure you don’t have long grains of rice in the payasam.
- Then add remaining 1 cup of coconut milk and mix well.
- You can adjust the consistency by adding water, if required, at this point.
- Let the payasam come to a boil, then turn off the flame, add cardamom powder and give a final mix.
- Indulge into this amazing Paal Payasam by garnishing with some slivered almonds or any dry fruits of your choice. This payasam can be served warm or chilled, as per your preference.
