Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Pal Payasam, and Tagged Again!

I decided today that I would celebrate a month of blogging with Pal Payasam (Milk Porridge?). I generally avoid preparation of sweets at home (my standard special-occasion sweet or dessert is semiya/ vermicelli payasam), and this seemed to be the tastier alternative, though time-consuming!


To make the Pal Payasam in the picture, you will need:

Rice - 2 cups
Milk - 5-6 cups
Ghee - 3 tbsp (I love cow ghee, especially in sweets! If you are health conscious, use less ghee, or a healthier alternative - I wouldn't know what, though :-( )

If you pre-cook the rice, and use the cooked rice in the payasam you will require less milk. However, the taste and flavour of the payasam is best if you use only milk to cook the rice. The 1:2 ratio of rice:water will not work here. The type of rice depends on you - boiled or raw rice, brown or white or basmati rice, etc. I have not tried it with all varieties either, so I cannot comment. I suppose (and hope) you could make this with all varieties too! But, make sure you have enough milk to cook the rice in it, as rice varieties differ in time taken to cook.

Cashew - 1/4 cup
Raisins - 1/4 cup
Cloves - 1 tbsp
Cardamom pods - 1 tbsp - crushed
Sugar - 1 cup (OR to taste, I do not like too much sweet and try to restrict the use of sugar!)

Method:

  • Heat ghee on low flame in a pan and roast the raisins and cashews and cardamom and cloves, and keep aside
  • Wash the rice really well, soak in warm water for 30 minutes
  • Boil milk in a heavy bottomed pan, and when it begins to boil, add the rice and stir well
  • Keep on low flame and leave to cook uncovered with every-5-minute-check-and-stir process until the rice is cooked and soft (just grab a spoon, dig a few grains of rice out and chew)
  • Add sugar and the ghee with the roasted mixture, and keep stirring slowly for about 5 minutes on low flame
  • Remove and keep aside to cool, half-covered

Serve warm, or chill and serve later, depending on your choice of hot or cold dessert


Tagged Again

Rekha of Rekha's Kitchen has tagged me. Thank you, Rekha! I have already done this, you can read through my answers.

25 comments:

amna said...

This is my least favourite payasam. I prefer the sharkkara ones :) TH doesnt like any payasam so chances of me making them is quite rare.

Anonymous said...

mouth watering running into the kitchen to make it

A_and_N said...

Sweet way to finish your first month and start the second :D

Jaishree Iyer said...

This is my favourite payasam.mouth watering...looks perfect.

EC said...

I normally go the shortcut method...but somehow in the process of trying new varieties of payasam, its long time since I made this one which I love the most

Indian Khana said...

Great Shreya...Kheer looking so delicious (we call payasam kheer) and in 5-6cups of milk we use 2-3tbs of rice :)....it just taste yummy

ST said...

Payasam looks yum yum yum.....Its my favorite one.....

Anamika:The Sugarcrafter said...

Dear Shreya
Thanks for passing by my blog and leaving such nice comments.I linked back to your blog and loved your posts. This pal payasam looks nice and you must share more of your sweet recipes, eh !

Niya prakash said...

Hi Shreya

Really impressed by the mouth watering photos of ''paal payasam''. Kaaju- Kismis's slowly floating with the help of '' ghee/ neyy . Nice close up photo. ''Sadya untathu pole yaayi''.

Thanks for the comment Shreya !!
Grilled fish's more tasty and less oil.

Purva Desai said...

Pal Payasam looks really good.....garnished with nuts and raisins

Poonam said...

Payasams are always great. Nice one.

Usha said...

Pal payasam is my favorite,good treat for completing one month of blogging :)

Cham said...

Hi Sreya, Paal payasa is one of the TN special! I soak the rice and break the grain to make the rice cooking faster. Well i ve in my blog too... Lovely and yummy payasam

Sum Raj said...

looks lovly and tempting..

Dori said...

Looks good, the flavors sound nice!

Nic said...

How delicious this looks! I'm not so familiar with Indian desserts, but this is something I would like.

Vidhya said...

Pal payasam looks yummy. Even in my mom's place we cook rice in milk. But my MIL first cooks rice in water and then add milk and milkmaid to compensate.

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Palpayasan looks lovely.

A surprise for you in my blog.

Dee said...

Aah, this I know!
My grandmother used to make payasam with rice vermicelli and brown sugar.
Thanks for bringing back some fond memories :)

Jeff said...

I love this I come to your blog and I always learn something new especially new uses for ghee.

p.s. congrats on the month long!

Unknown said...

payasam looks really yummy..long time i made this!

Shreya said...

Nags, R loves paysam with jaggery too, and especially the rice kheer made with just 2-3 tbsps of rice in 5-6 cups of milk (as Priti mentions), and a cup of hot melted jaggery added at the very end!:-)

Lubna, hope you liked it!

Priti, I too agree, the best taste is when only very less rice is used in lots of milk..love the richness of that kheer:-)

Nicisme - Thanks, please do try it.

Valarmathi - Thank you for the award:-)

Jeff - Thanks! I am glad you find something new each time. I don't think I have too many recipes with ghee. It adds great taste if you use ghee is almost all Indian dishes, but definitely isn't healthy!:D It's too much of an effort to burn off the fat later..

A_and_N, MyViews, EasyCrafts, Sireesha, Anamika, Niya, Purva, Usha, Cham, Suma, Meeso, Vidhya, Dee, Soumya - Thank you all so much for the nice comments!:-)

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Congratulations on your 1st month posting! I've never heared of Pal Payasam, but it's just like a rice pudding. Sounds pretty good!

Lakshmi said...

Payasams are always a treat at home :) Loved your version..

mathew said...

oh thats real tempting..now that onam is around the corner!!;-D