Macaroni Payasam / Kheer

Was very busy since few days, thats why couldn't meet you all... And this is the blessed month,so there are many things to do, hope you all are busy with prayers and reciting Quran.. Did any one of you invited few for iftar? I love to do but this time haven't done much... :)
Here you have a simple macaroni / pasta kheer from me, it will be a great addition to the iftar party insha Allah, try out and let me know.. :-)



Ingredients used,
macaroni 2 cups
milk 4 cups
milk maid 1 cup
sugar 1 cup or as desired
cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
rice powder 1 Tbsp
water 1/2 cup
butter 1 Tbsp
cashews and raisins few
ghee



Method,
Cook macaroni according to packet instructions.
Drain and keep aside.
I did pressure cook macaronis up to 3 whistles and cut each into two pieces.
Heat butter in a vessel, saute macaronis in it for 2 minutes.
Add milk, sugar and milk maid and continue stirring.
Allow to boil.
Mix rice powder in water and pour this to the boiling payasam.
Continue stirring and let thicken the kheer.
Add cardamom powder and switch off fire.
Heat ghee, fry cashews and raisins and garnish payasam with it.

Read more >>

Almonds / Badam Payasam

Since I was little busy, I had been looking for a simple recipe to publish this week. This was waiting for long in the line, now it is best time to show its face, specially in this hot weather..
Actually I had no idea what to call this, simply a payasam or a delicious chilled drink? A drink prepared with almonds would always be rich and delicious! I loved it when served chilled, especially its thickness with almond taste.. Do add more milk to change the thickness according to your taste.



Ingredients used for preparing
badam 1/2 cup
milk 1/2 litre
sugar 1/4 cup or as per your taste
cardomam 1 crushed or cardomaom powder 2 pinches
saffron few strands
nuts



How to prepare
Peel badam. (see here how to peel badam). Grind it with little milk to a thick paste. This paste should be fine.
Boil milk. Add this paste to the boiling milk. Add sugar and powdered cardomam.
continue stirring. When this begins to thick, add few saffron strands and remove from fire. Put crushed pistachios or cashewnuts. I prefer drinking this chilled.

Read more >>

Nenthrappazham Pradhaman / Banana Paayasam

Did you all prepare a wonderful sadya for vishu? I don't have any plan to make sadya, since two weeks I have been making all sadya dishes every day and is so tired of it.We are running out of fish and my veggie lover H can't understand the sorrow of the carnivores.. :) Back home in Kerala, my sis and cousins are very much enthusiastic in such matters like preparing sadya, trying out new dishes etc. I miss all that lovely dishes served together on a vazhayila / banana leaf.. Here , the restaurants in Dubai are doing a great job for serving sadya, providing a homely atmosphere, which we definitely get while seeing the dishes on a banana leaf. I had already posted a Thakkali pachadi recipe for you, and this is my sweet gift to all my readers here.. :)



Ingredients
Banana 2 ripe
jaggery / sarkkara 2 or more blocks
coconut milk thin 1 1/2 cups
coconut milk thick 1/2 cup
ghee 2 tsp
cardomam powder 2 pinches or
dry ginger powder
coconut pieces roasted in ghee 2 tsp



How to prepare
Boil bananas. Peel and remove the black seeds in the center.
Mash them well.(or grind)
Melt jaggery with 1/4 cup water and remove impurities by straining.
Add mashed banana into this and cook them on a medium flame stirring continuously.
When they form thick and remove from the pan, add ghee on it. Remove from fire and keep lid closed.
Boil this with thin coconut milk when you make pradhaman. When the mixture is thick add the thick coconut milk , mix well and remove from fire.
Sprinkle cardamom or dry ginger powder and ghee roasted coconut pieces on it. Or do garnishing with cashews or raisins.
Adding much jaggery will give more color to the dish, I used only little since we didn't like much sweetness.

Read more >>

Semiya paayasam / Vermicelli kheer

Ingredients
Semiya / Vermicelli 2 cups
milk 4 cups
water 1 cup
sugar 3/4 cup
cardamom powder 1/4 tsp
ghee 1 Tbsp
roasted and powdered oats 1 Tbsp optional
raisins and cashews few



How to prepare
Heat ghee in a vessel. Roast raisins and cashews. When it is done, remove and keep aside.
Roast semiya in the same ghee for few minutes by stirring continuously until it slightly changes color. Do all these on low flame.
Add 2 cups of milk plus 1 cup of water into this and cook on a medium flame.
When the semiya is cooked, add the remaining milk and sugar. Mix well, remove from fire. Sprinkle cardamom powder over this. Garnish with raisins and cashews.
Don't over cook semiya, then it will stick together. If you find the paayasm is too thick later, then add little more milk to reach to your desired consistency..

Read more >>

Rava / Semolina Oats payasam

Ingredients
Rava 2 tbsp
oats 2 tbsp
sugar 4 tbsp
ghee 1 tbsp
milk 2 cups
cardamom 1
raisins and cashew nuts few

Method
Heat ghee. Roast raisins and cashews. Add rawa and oats. Roast them until the color slightly changes.
Add sugar, crushed cardamom and milk. Bring to boil stirring continuously. When this begins to thick remove from fire. Add milk according to the thickness you like.
This is a good option for the children who are lazy to eat. If you make this for your kid, use butter or pure ghee instead of normal ghee.

Read more >>

Semiya Bread Kesari

Ingredients and method
Semiya 4 tablespoon
Bread 4 slices
Coconut milk 1 cup thick
Milk 2 cup
Sugar 5 tablespoon
Ghee 1 tablespoon
Cardamom powder 1 pinch
Kismis and Cashew nuts few

Cut bread into small pieces.
Heat ghee, roast kismis and cashews and keep aside. In the remaining ghee roast semiya till golden brown. Then add bread pieces and fry for few seconds. Remove from fire and add coconut milk and milk into this. Keep this for half an hour. Heat sugar with 1 spoon water. When it begins to boil add the above mixture. Boil till thick. Remove from fire and sprinkle cardomom powder over it.

Recipe Source - My sister's recipe collection.

Read more >>

Apple Paayasam

Here is a healthy paayasam for kids!

Ingredients
Apples 2
Milk 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Cardamoms 2 or 3
Butter 1 table spoon
Nuts or raisins few
Milk powder 2 table spoon

How to prepare
Chop apples into very thin(remove skin).
Boil milk and reduce to half, add powdered cardamoms, apples and sugar into this.
Stir until thick and apples are cooked.
Mix milk powder with little water to make a thick solution and pour this in to the above.
Mix well.
You can use sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar and milk powder.
Heat butter, fry nuts or raisins, pour to the paayasam.

Read more >>

Chakka Pradhaman / Jack fruit Paayasam

Ingredients
Fleshy parts of jack fruit 15
Jaggery 3 big blocks or 6 small
Coconut milk 1 ½ cup thick
Ghee 4 tea spoons
Coconut pieces small fried in ghee 1 table spoon
Cardamom, cumin seeds and dry ginger pieces powdered 2 or 3 pinches

How to prepare
Cut the jack fruit into small thin pieces.
Pressure cook this in 2 table spoons of water.When done, remove the water and keep aside.Grind this very well without water. Melt jaggery(boil) in the water used for cooking jack fruit.If needed add little more water.( I did this to avoid using much water. Since desiccating is too much difficult while making chakka varatti, it usually splatter out ). Mix the jaggery water with ground jack fruit paste. Add ghee. Mix very well and heat. Stir continuously till there is no water. Stop stirring when the paste turns ball and doesn’t stick to the pan.

Add coconut milk in to this. Mix and when begin to boil remove from fire.Sprinkle powdered cardamom, cumin seeds and dry ginger. Garnish with the fried coconut pieces.

I followed the instructions of my friend Valsala, for making this tasty dessert.Thanks Valsala!

Submitted to JFI for Jack fruit hosted by Bee of Jugalbandi.

Read more >>