Payasam (sweet porridge) is part of festival food. Thengai Payasam is a traditional sweet dish prepared with coconut, rice and jaggery. Coconut and jaggery combination gives a nice taste to payasam.
Coconut is known as Thengai in Tamil and as Nariyal in Hindi. Jaggery is known as Vellam in Tamil and as Gur(d) in Hindi.
Cooking time: 15 minutes other than soaking time
Ingredients:
- Coconut – ½ shell
- Chopped jaggery – ½ cup
- Basmati or any rice – 1 table spoon
- Cashewnuts and raisins – few
- Cardamom– 4 no
- Ghee – ½ tea spoon
Method:
- Soak rice for 15 to 20 minutes and drain; grind soaked rice, coconut, cardamom to a fine batter.
- Boil jaggery in one cup of water till raw smell leaves, filter and keep it; heat a pan with ghee, fry cashew nuts and raisins separately and keep.
- In the same pan, boil one cup of water; when this starts boiling add ground paste; add some water and stir continuously; as it is cooked, the colour and texture will change and if you touch with wet finger this won’t stick in your finger.
- Now add boiled and filtered jaggery water; adjust consistency as per your choice and cook for few more minutes; garnish with cashew nuts and raisins.
- Serve hot or cold.
Tips
- Use fresh coconut and adjust sweetness by varying the quantity of jaggery.
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