Payasam

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup - sago seeds

• 1/2 cup - vermicelli

• 1/2 cup - condensed milk sweetened or sugar for vegan

• 1 cup - milk or coconut milk

• 1-2 tbsp - raisins

• 3-4 tbsp - cashews

• As needed - Ghee

Spices

(Shop at ASAspice for all your spices)

• 1 tsp - green cardamom

• 1 tsp - saffron

Preparation

1. Rinse and soak the sago seeds in water for about 1 hour.

2. Heat 1 tbsp ghee on medium flame, add the vermicelli and roast for 5 minutes until golden and set aside .

3. In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Reduce to medium heat, add saffron and crushed cardamom, and let it simmer for a few minutes.

4. Drain the sago water and add the soaked sago to the milk. Bring to a boil and simmer until the pearls turn transparent

5. Add the roasted vermicelli, Cook for 5 minutes or until the vermicelli softens

6. Pour in the condensed milk and mix well. Adjust with more milk or condensed milk for your preferred consistency and sweetness

7. In a small pan, heat 1 tbsp oil/ghee, add the cashews and fry them till it turns light brown, add in the raisins and fry until it puffs and add this to payasam and mix everything

Tips

1. The sago is high in starch so it tends to thicken as it cooks so add milk or water to adjust the consistency

2. You can also replace the sago and vermicelli with short grain rice used for pudding .

3. You can buy the sago and vermicelli in amazon or any south Asian store .

4. Vegan - for vegan version add only coconut milk and replace the condensed milk with sugar