Millets payasam /Thinai payasam

 

 

"Wishing you all a very happy pongal..."

Celebrate this pongal with millets.This is an authentic dish from Coimbatore region and it tastes very delicious.Try out this yummy and healthy payasam which tastes more delicious than the other rice/dhal payasam...The texture is somewhat similar to rava payasam and tastes little similar(more yummier) than the pasi paruppu(Moong dhal payasam).

 

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

Serves:4-5

 

4 Cups of milk

3/4 cup of Millet (I used Thinai arisi/Fox tail millet )

1 to 1.5 Cups of grated jaggery

A pinch of salt

2  Tbsp of cashewnut

1 Tbsp of Raisins

1 Tbsp of Ghee

1/2 Tsp of cardamom powder (Optional)

 

 

THIS IS HOW I MADE IT:

 

 

 

 

 

Add a tsp of ghee and roast the millet in low flame till it releases a nice flavour.

Cool it and Powder it.Don't powder the mixture very smooth.Let it be in little coarse.

Keep it aside.

 

 

 

In a tsp of ghee fry the cashews and then the raisins.Keep it aside.

Grate the jaggery and keep it aside.If your contains any impurities then add them to a pan with little water(5 Tbsp of water or more).Heat it in low flame till the jaggery gets dissolved.Then strain off the impurities and keep the jaggery water aside.

 

 

 

Boil milk in a thick bottomed pan.

Add the powdered millet little by little by stirring the mixture so that no lumps are formed.

Add a pinch of salt to enhance the taste

 

 

 

Allow it to boil for 5 minutes in low flame.Keep stirring at regular intervals so that no lumps are formed.The mixture would have turned little thick now.And the millets would have got cooked well.

Then add the grated jaggery and keep mixing well.

 

Finally add the roasted cashews and raisins.If you want the payasam to be little thin then add more water and adjust the consistency.

 

 

 

 

 

HANDY TIPS:

 

 

 

 

• While adding the powdered millet add little by little and also constantly stir the mixture while adding to avoid the lumps being formed.
• As you are using milk for this payasam the amount of jaggery to be added is little more in quantity than the one added for the other payasam.
• You can increase the jaggery amount if you want to the payasam to be more sweet.
• If your jaggery has some impurities then add water to the grated jaggery and make it to dissolve in the water by heating it in low flame.Then strain the jaggery water and add it to the milk.
• Instead of powdering the millet you can add cooked thinai rice too.
• For garnishing you can add grated pista too.
• As millets itself have a nice flavour there is no necessity of adding cardamom powder.But if u really need to enhance the flavour then you can add.
• You can also add grated coconut finally to add richness to the dish.
• You can adjust the consistency of the payasam accordingly by adjusting the milk amount used.
• The payasam gets thickened after few hours.So adjust the consistency accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sending this dish for the TST