Food

 Cherupayar Payasam

A Traditional Dessert With Sweetened Green Grams, From Kerala.... 

                               Payasam is a healthy dessert of Kerala, you can call it a traditional dessert. Onam is just around the corner, and it is incomplete without payasam...

                             Cherupayar payasam is a rustic beauty of my kitchen in my native land, where in the green pearls get dressed up in the silky coconut milk, along with the seductress dark beauty, jaggery and perfumed by the sweet scent of crushed cardamom and divine ghee.

Ingredients: 

 34-1 cup cooked cherupayar/green grams/whole moon bean, without salt

1/2 cup melted and filtered jaggery (as per the sweetness)

2 tbsp grated coconut

A pinch of salt

1½ cup canned coconut milk, diluted with ½ cup water

1½ cup canned coconut milk, diluted with 2 tbsp water

4 pods of green cardamom, crushed

1 tsp + 1 ½ tbsp ghee/clarified butter

2 tbsp Thengakothu / coconut slices/cuts

2 tbsp broken cashew nuts.

Directions:

 

                                 In a wide sauce pot, heat melted and filtered jaggery; when it is hot add the grated coconut with a pinch of salt and stir for about 2 minutes and then add the cooked cherupayar/green grams. As you let it cook in low heat, keep mashing the cooked cherupayar/green grams, with the back of a wooden spoon, until the mixture reaches a very thick and almost dry consistency; At this stage, when you keep stirring, it becomes a huge round mass. At this point, add 1 tsp ghee and crushed cardamom. (Note: If you decide to finish the rest of the cooking later, you may turn off the stove now and let it come to room temperature, before refrigerating the cooked mixture. Its refrigeration life depends on how well you cooked down the mixture to an almost dry consistency.) Now dilute ½ cup of canned coconut milk with ½ cup of water and pour it to the sweetened mixture and loosen it; let it come to a boil, and let everything bubble together in very low simmering heat. Now, add the thick coconut milk (14 cup canned coconut milk, diluted with 2 tbsp water) and bring to a boil and again simmer for few more minutes. You can turn off the stove when it still has a liquid consistency (as Cherupayar Payasam like many of its siblings, tend to thicken as they rest).

                                    In another small pan, heat 1½ tbsp ghee and fry some broken cashews and keep aside; fry some small coconut slices/Thangakothu, till its turns golden brown in colour and pour everything, both the broken cashews and coconut slices, including the leftover ghee to the Payasam and serve warm after 30 minutes.