Cook in a Curry

My craving for a hearty rice pudding a few weeks back led to this gorgeous dish!

Rice puddings are a very common snack/ dessert in Indian communities. My mum would cook us Indian rice pudding regularly with spices and toasted nuts. Southern Indian rice pudding also known as Payasam is similar in ways to the Kheer/ Indian rice pudding. Traditional payasam is made with rice and is a tad milky in consistency. There is a variety of ways to cook this dish and local communities also make a delicious version with broken or cracked wheat.

I have eaten ‘Thengai paal Payasam’ at weddings and pujas in the past; Coconut rice pudding is full of flavour, decadent and almost always makes me go for second helpings! Topped with fried pistachios, cashew nuts and puffy raisins; this pudding is a mouthful of gorgeousness. My favourite are the raisins so asking mum to add extra raisins was the done thing. I have used jaggery to cook the Payasam which lends a lovely sweetness but also gives it that caramelly colour. Palm sugar or unrefined brown sugar would be a perfect alternative.

Ingredients

50gms Basmati rice

110mls full fat milk

250mls coconut milk

40gms jaggery or unrefined brown sugar

5 cardamom pods; seeds only pounded to a fine powder

To serve;

2 tbsp butter

A tbsp of cashew nuts, pistachios & raisins

Pinch of saffron

In a wide heavy bottom sauce pan add the rice, full fat milk, coconut milk over medium heat and bring to a boil. Stir frequently. Simmer and add the jaggery & cardamom powder. Cook for an hour stirring often scraping the bottom & sides of the pan making sure it doesn’t stick. Once the rice is cooked and the pudding is a creamy consistency turn the heat off and cover with a lid. Leave to cool slightly.

In a frying pan heat the butter and add cashew nuts and brown slightly, add the pistachios and raisins. Fry for a few seconds. Pour the fried nuts along with the butter over the Payasam & serve warm.