Avalakki payasa (or pongal?) - kheer made with flattened rice

I made this avalakki payasa yesterday for a celebration and was about to write the post when I caught up with the news and saw the devastation in Nepal. Totally lost my taste for the sweet payasa and got up to do something to distract my mind. All my prayers to the people affected by this wrath of nature, hope us humans are able to stand support and help them rebuild their lives.

After a day of deliberation, I figured I would write this post anyways because it is special for more than one reason. First, it was my father's favorite payasa (or rather his favorite deity's favorite dish :-)). This is a popular offering from the Udupi math, very simple to make, extremely delicious and homely, at the same time perfect fit for any occasion. Second reason being that we were indeed celebrating a milestone yesterday. The baby is ready to fly the nest and experience life without her parents by her side, this is a bitter sweet moment for us as parents and as proud as we are of our little bundle of joy that has grown up into a fine young woman ready to move out of the safety net of home, we are at the same time trying to choke back the heavy feeling in the throat. Can't imagine coming back home in the evenings that would be devoid of the chirpiness characteristic of our little girl, or getting to work without that warm arms around the neck wishing a Good Morning and everything in between. But that is another 3 months away and I won't think about it until then as there is lots to do between now and then :-)

DD finalized her college choice yesterday and is excited about beginning a new life on campus while we are torn between feeling elated and anxious at the same time. I have been thinking of my father and wishing he was with us still to share the joy and also offer those ever ready shoulders of his when I needed to lean on and anchor myself. I have never spoken of my father except in passing on this blog, even after all these years (time doesn't fill certain voids in life) it is not easy for me to talk about what he meant to me and the rest of his children. He would have been one proud & supportive grandpa for all his grand children cheering them on at every one of their achievements and offering the best practical advice when they needed some.

Avalakki payasa is a thicker form of payasa or kheer made especially on Janmashtami or Krishnashtami as avalakki is known for its popularity with the Lord Krishna. I make this any time we feel like eating a quick sweet since it hardly takes time. Given avalakki's innate thickening quality, this payasa tends to resemble the sweet pongal rather than a flowy payasa :-). You don't have any lentil and so it doesn't officially quality for being called a pongal. If you really didn't care about the name, then this is a perfect cup of dessert to dig into as part of any celebration - big or small.

I love sweets with jaggery more than white sugar. You can substitute jaggery in this recipe with white sugar if you prefer, that retains a bright white color in the payasa. I add ground coconut (ground to a fine paste almost resembling thick coconut milk), you can use coconut milk instead or make it with regular milk.

So here is my humble avalakki payasa as we get go through a happy life changing event. Being a weekend, I made poori, saagu and green apple tokku for brunch and we ate our avalakki payasa to finish off a perfectly sleep inducing brunch :-).

Note: If you notice the color or hint of saffron strands in a couple of pictures and wonder why I didn't call out that ingredient in the list, please note that it is not an essential ingredient. BH was helping me out in the kitchen on this said morning and he loves to open my cupboards and pantry and keep adding stuff into the pots and pans on the stove :-). Adding saffron was one of his experimentation (nammamma would feel very proud of the SIL since she loves to sprinkle the expensive saffron into most of the sweets too :-)). I don't discourage you from adding saffron but it is not needed.

What do you need to make Avalakki payasa? 
1 cup avalakki/poha/flattened rice (use the medium variety)
3/4 - 1 cup jaggery powdered (based on your preference for sweetness)
2 cups milk
1 cup grated coconut
2 green cardamom
2 cloves
1 Tsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 Tsp raisins
1 Tsp cashews

How do you make Avalakki payasa? 

• Take a heavy bottom pan and heat it to warm up. 
• Pick any dirt from avalakki and pour it into the pan.
• Roast it for 2-3 minutes until it crisps up slightly and loses the raw smell. 
• Take it out onto a plate. 
• Add jaggery pieces/powder to the pan along with 2 Tbsp water and let it dissolve.
• Jaggery starts to bubble up once it mixes with water, at this stage add the roasted avalakki and mix it in. 

• Make a smooth paste of coconut, cardamom and cloves with 1/2 cup milk in a blender. 
• Let avalakki cook in the jaggery syrup for 5 minutes or until it becomes soft. 

• Add the coconut paste at this stage along with the remaining milk. 

• Mix and let it come to a good boil on medium heat. Take off heat. 

• Heat ghee in a small pan, add raisins and cashews and roast until raisins plump up and cashes turn golden brown. 
• Add this to the payasa and give a mix. 

• Serve it warm or cold. 

Notes: 

• You can use thin or paper avalakki in which case just rinse it under water and add it to the melted jaggery. 
• If you are using white sugar instead of jaggery, bring 1/2 cup milk to boil, add sugar and let it dissolve. Continue with the rest of the process as above. 

Payasa of the sabbakki-shavige variety (Kheer with Tapioca & Vermicelli) - a sweet offering on occasion of Sankranthi

Once again Happy Makara Sankranthi (belated this time)!. I know I messed up on my Sankranthi posts this week, things have been busy and I didn't time my blog posts though I cooked and ate a lot. The regular fare of ellu bella had been in the making for the last 2 weeks. BH had a brilliant idea and put the plates with chopped jaggery, dry coconut etc under the bright light we have for the indoor plants so they crisped up by that heat (just like Nammamma makes by putting them out in the Sun for a day or so) and taste delicious. I also made a pongal (totally different way, recipe will show up soon here) and this payasa (Kannada), payasam (Telugu), Kheer (Hindi) or sweet porridge (English) as part of the festival cooking. Very simple and quick if you plan a little ahead, this is a favorite at home.

DD has always been in love with payasa and that would be the only alternative to her all time favorite Gulab jamoon for her birthdays. So the tradition of payasa on her birthdays was on regularly until a couple of years back when I burnt the payasa, though I quickly transferred the contents to another pan the scalded smell had already permeated all of our new home and definitely the nostrils of my over sensitive child. Not only did she refuse to eat the sweet that day, she made me promise that I will not make payasa again for her birthday. So the birthday sweet changed to the next favored dish and since I have not messed it up, she is happy.

There are several different varieties of payasa and this is just the tip of the ice burg or the crown of the group. I learnt to enjoy eating payasa from nammamma and learnt to make a perfect, creamy payasam(paramannam) from amma. For as long as I remember, payasa was Nammamma's favorite dish to make on a birthday, so we would without fail have this dish on 6 ocassions in the year in addition to other days. She makes it mainly with semia/sevia (roasted vermicelli - this is a processed wheat product and not the rice vermicelli I talk about here) but I add Sabudana (also called Sago, sabbakki, saggubiyyam or Tapioca) to it as DD loves those pearly white additions.

Flip to amma's kitchen, payasam and peruggarilu are 2 dishes I have seen her patiently standing over the stove and make, she is not a very enthusiastic cook for the most part and is usually on the lookout to get out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. However these two are her signature dishes, I don't think she has the confidence to hand those over to me yet and I am happy to lay back and enjoy :-) when she makes it. But in the absence of both my ammas this time around, and also to serve the self interest of blogging a delicious dish on the blog, I decided to make this delicious sweet for Sankranthi and was very careful to not let milk become too cozy and adhesive to the pan.

For the uninitiated, payasa is a sweet dish with a consistency thinner than jello. The creaminess comes from milk (usually whole milk but I cheat) or cream. Traditional payasa is made thicker by slowly reducing milk on low heat which also imparts a wonderful aroma to the dish.

What do you need to make Sago-Semia payasa?
1/2 cup sago (soaked for 30 mins to 2 hours)
1/2 cup roasted vermicelli
4 cups milk (I used 2 cups of 2% and 2 cups of fat free)
3/4 - 1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 as we dont like 'too sweet on the tongue' payasa)
1.5 cups water
2 green cardamoms
2 cloves
5-6 strands saffron
Garnish:
1 tsp ghee
cashews
raisins

How do you make Sago-Semia payasa?

• Wash and soak sago in water for about an hour. This is optional but reduces the cooking time drastically.
• Rinse off the water, wash the pearls under running water once more. 
• Cook sago in 1.5 cups of water for 45 minutes or until it is transparent. Keep stirring every 5 minutes or so to avoid burning. 
• Once Sago is cooked (to test: hold a pearl between 2 fingers and press, it should give in easily without any hard touch at the core).

• Add the roasted vermicelli (I used pre roasted, thin versmicelli - MTR brand). If you do not have pre roasted vermicelli, dry roast it on medium flame constantly stirring until it turns light pink in color. 
• Mix and add 2 cups of milk (2% at this stage) and let it cook on medium heat, stirring frequently until vermicelli turns soft. 

• Add sugar, saffron strands (crushed a little between palms) and the remaining 2 cups of milk and let it cook and boil gently until the consistency thickens.
• Powder cardamom and cloves, add it to the payasa and switch off. 
• Heat ghee on low heat, add cashews and raisins and roast until cashews turn golden brown and crisp. Add it to the payasa. 
• Payasa can be served warm or refrigerator cold, both taste delicious. 

Notes: 

• Get medium sized sago for this dish, very tiny ones will kind of dissolve and not hold shape while the large ones make a 'un-dainty' appearance:-)
• You can cook sago in pressure cooker for 2-3 whistles - cooking time varies with pressure cookers. I personally like the open cooking as I know when to stop cooking the sago and there is no cooling/waiting time needed. 
• Keep stirring the sago occasionally so it doesn't form the sticky layer on top or get stuck to the bottom.
• Cooking both sago and semia to perfection is the only trick in this divine offering.
• Instead of crushing saffron and adding it directly to the pan, you can soak the strands in a spoon of milk for 15 minutes and add it. 
• Do not use condensed milk or dry milk, reducing fresh milk to the desired consistency is what gives an authentic and yummy taste to this dish. The time you spend at the stove for making this dish is totally worth the taste.