Moongdhal Kheer / Pasiparuppu Payasam

Sweets / Desserts has a significant place in Indian cuisine. Indians can never say no to desserts because it is hard to resist 😉 In South of India, kheer is called as Payasam. I made this during Tamil Puthandu (Tamil newyear) but posting it so late 😉

Moongdhal Kheer is a creamy pudding made with moongdhal and flavoured with cardamom. Adding jaggery for sweetener gives an unique flavour. Here I have added a fistful of vermicelli along with the moongdhal. Both are dry roasted and then the kheer is prepared. It is a simple, rich and tasty dessert. This is my personal favourite too.

Ingredients:

Moongdhal – 100 gms

Vermicelli / Semiya – fistful

Milk – 1 cup

Jaggery – 200 gms

Water – 1/2 cup (approx)

Cardamom – 3 nos

Cashewnuts – 2 tbsp

Raisins – 2 tbsp

Ghee – 3 tbsp

Method:

1. Dry roast the Moongdhal and Vermicelli till its golden.
2. Melt the jaggery pieces with 1/2 cup water. Strain it and keep aside.
   

   
3. In a cooker,  add the dryroasted moongdhal and vermicelli with 1 cup of milk and a crushed cardamom. Close the lid and cook for 2 whistles in high flame.
4. Once the moongdhal is well cooked, pour the strained jaggery to the cooked mixture and check for sweetness.
5. In a small pan, heat ghee and add cashews. When it turns golden, add raisins. Raisins puff up. Also add 2 crushed cardamom to the ghee and switch off the flame.
6. Add the ghee roasted ingredients to the payasam.
7. Moongdhal payasam is ready to be served

 Note:

• If you feel that the dhal mixture may get burnt when cooking in the pressure cooker, you can add little water along with milk while cooking dhal and vermicell. 
• Also we are adding Jaggery syrup after the dhal is done, which will even more make the kheer liquid. So you can adjust the consistency of kheer accordingly.