Payasam is made during auspicious or festive occasions and even served as an offering to the deities. Payasam can also be served as a dessert after meals. During festive occasions most of the times I make kheer or payasam as they are easy to make. But this time I made this chana dal payasam for my friend’s daughter, to satisfy her pregnancy craving.
In this recipe, I have used homemade coconut milk, but you can also use store brought thick coconut milk.
Serve chana dal payasam hot or warm or chilled. Left over payasam can also be refrigerated once it comes to room temperature.
Well, I could go on and on about payasams but let’s get back to the recipe. For this payasam, you will need….
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Chana dal / Kadalai paruppu
- ¼ cup Jaggery
- ½ cup Coconut, shredded
- 1-2 Nos. Cardamoms, powdered
- 1 tsp. Cashew nuts
- 1 tsp. Raisins
- 1 tbsp. Coconut pieces
- 1 tsp. Clarified butter / Ghee
Method
- Roast chana dal until it turns aromatic. Say, for a minute in medium flame. You can skip roasting too.
- Pressure cook the chana dal for 5 whistles with water enough to immerse the dal.
- Meanwhile, grind coconut with very little hot water, say about few tablespoons and squeeze out the milk and keep the milk aside.
- Once the dal is cooked open the pressure cooker, mash the dal roughly, when it is hot. Add water if needed.
- Continue heating the dal in a heavy bottomed pan and add powdered jaggery. If you feel your jaggery is not pure, you can heat it with very little water and strain the syrup and use it. Boil it in medium flame for 2 minutes. Add cardamom powder.
- Switch off the flame and add the coconut milk and mix. After adding coconut milk, do not heat to avoid curdling. Add only after switching the flame off.
- Heat ghee in a pan and fry broken cashew nuts, raisins and coconut pieces and mix in to the payasam.
- Serve hot or cold. Enjoy!!