Ginger, Salt & Pepper

Another underrated payasam from Kerala, the Gothambu payasam is made with coconut milk as opposed to the usual norm of payasam made with milk.

Ingredients

For cooking wheat

1 tbsp Ghee

1 cup Broken sooji wheat (Sooji Gothambu)

4 cups water

For making jaggery syrup

1.25 cup Jaggery (grated or powder)

1/4 cup Water

For payasam

1 tsp Cardomom powder

600 ml canned Coconut milk (thick)

For garnishing

1/4 cup Ghee

1/4 cup Raisins

1/4 cup Broken cashews

1/2 cup Coconut- thin slices

Recipe

1. Mix the jaggery and water and bring to a simmer on medium heat.

2. Keep cooking while stirring till no or very less lumps are visible

3. Strain the syrup for impurities and set aside to completely cool.

4. In a pressure cooker, heat ghee for cooking wheat

5. Add the broken wheat and fry for a few seconds

6. Pour 4 cups of water into this and pressure cook for 2 whistles or until the wheat is tender

7. Strain the wheat, reserving 1.5 cups of water and set aside

8. Heat the ghee for garnishing and add the coconut slices, raisins and cashew to this.

9. Fry to a golden color and set aside

10. In a thick bottomed vessel (I used the pressure cooker), add the coconut milk and Cardomom powder and bring to a boil along with the reserved water

11. Add the wheat to this and cook on medium heat while stirring for 10 minutes

12. Add the jaggery syrup, a spoonful at a time while continuously stirring. You could do this moving it away from the heat.

It is crucial that the coconut milk mixture doesn’t boil from the moment you add jaggery, since that would cause the milk to split

13. Continue cooking on low heat for another 30 minutes while stirring until the volume is down by a third.

14. Turn off heat and mix in the garnish prepared.

Serve hot or cold.

Note:

For a much richer taste, double the quantity of milk and at Step 11 cook it on low heat for upto 2 hours. At Step 13 cook on low heat for 1 hour.