Preparation time : 25 minutes
Cooking time : 25 to 30 minutes
Serves : 8-10 members
Recipe source : http://puliyogaretravels.com
Description
Hubby dear comes home winning his tennis tournament finals, tired, hyper and happy. All I can do is to treat him through his belly. So made his favourite biriyani for lunch. What do I do for dessert was the next big question in my mind? I remembered, fellow foodie Rakesh asking me to try out a vegetable payasam recipe. I grabbed the opportunity and made the payasam which is mount batten mani iyer’s recipe. I had my doubts if it would taste nice and mainly if hubby dear would like it. Made it religiously as the recipe demanded but I did add a pinch of salt and an extra teaspoon of ghee to garnish as my twist. I served the payasam after the heavy meal and was waiting for hubby dears verdict. It was just silence with constantly relishing the payasam. I kept asking him, how is the payasam? Don’t you find anything new? He was like.. ” it’s milk payasam made in a good way with loads of nuts.” I just shook myself and realised that he would not guess the secret ingredient for sure and told him the payasam is made of vegetables. His eye brows raised as he was having his last spoon full of the payasam. That’s when I realised that he loved the payasam as any dessert served after a heavy meal is demanded to be given in half the amount served but this time, he just emptied the entire lot served. Happy me with a new innovative recipe learnt to share with you all and to satisfy my loved ones at home through food and its memories as always.
Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Finely chopped carrots | 1/2 cup |
| Finely chopped potato | 1/2 cup |
| Finely chopped cauliflower | 1/2 cup |
| Finely chopped beans | 1/2 cup |
| Milk | 2 litters |
| Almond paste | 1/2 cup |
| Water | 1 cup |
| Sugar | 1/2 to 1 cup (or to taste) |
| Roasted mixed nuts | 1/2 cup |
| Saffron | 1 pinch |
| Cardamom powder | 1/4 teaspoon |
| Salt | a pinch |
| Ghee | 1 + 1 teaspoon |
Method
- Heat 500 milli litters of milk and let it boil in low flame until reduced to half.
- In another heavy bottomed pan, add equal parts of water and milk and bring to boil. ( 2 cups water + 2 cups milk )
- Add chopped carrot to the boiling mixture first as it takes a longer time to cook.
- After a few minutes add chopped potatoes and boil. Now to check if they’ve cooked, take some on the spatula and press vegetables. (This should not be mushy)
- At this stage, add the beans and let it boil and later the cauliflower.
- Add the reduced milk remaining 1.5 ltrs of milk to the cooked vegetables and let it boil. To this add crushed saffron and continue to boil.
- Make sure you incorporate the cream sticking on the sides of the pan while boiling the milk.
- Add the almond puree and stir continuously. (if you do not stir, almond puree can settle at the bottom of the pan and get burnt)
- Add the cardamom powder, a pinch of salt and sugar (to your liking) and stir well. Taste and adjust sugar. Remove from heat.
- Heat 1 teaspoon ghee and roast the nuts lightly in low flame. Add to the vegetable payasam along with another teaspoon of ghee.
- This tastes best when served hot as you can still get the crunch of the vegetables and the roasted mixed nuts.
Note
- The method of adding equal parts of water and milk to boil the vegetables is to ensure the milk does not get burnt and stick to the bottom.
- Also, adding a small silver coin to the milk while boiling it will prevent the milk from overflowing.
