PAAL PAYASAM

Ingredients:
½ cup rice; 3 cups milk; 1 tin Sweetened condensed Milk;
4 elaichi’s powdered; Sugar ¾ cup; Pachaikarpooram; Ghee 2 tspns. Cashew nuts – 15-20 nos (soak in warm water for ½ an hr. drain then slice & fry to a golden brown & keep); Plums (Kismis) remove stalks –clean, fry in ghee & keep.

For Garnish:
¼ - ½ tspn Spanish saffron strands – crushed & kept; 8-10 almonds skinned & finely sliced; A Tbspn of Pistas finely sliced.

Method:
Fry the rice (without Ghee) in a dry kadai over low heat to a golden brown – remove & leave to cool. Wash nicely till water runs clear – put the rice in a pressure cooker add the 3 cups of milk & cook for 10 mins. Or cook the rice & milk on a low heat till the rice is soft & dissolves in the milk, add sugar & condensed milk & keep on stirring till the sugar has dissolved, the condensed milk has blended with the milk/rice mixture & thickness achieved. Remove from heat, add elaichi powder, fried cashew nuts & plums – mix well & leave to cool down to room temperature – add the pachaikarpooram powder – mix again – garnish with finely slice almonds & pistas, sprinkle crushed Spanish saffron – Serve.

Second method: You could cook the rice like normal – mash & keep aside. Mix the Milk, Sugar, Condensed Milk & the cooked mashed rice nice till the sugar dissolves & the mixture has blended well – put on slow fire & boil till thickness has been achieved – add the fried cashew nuts, plums to the payasam – remove & spinkle the elaichi powder mix well –leave to cool down to room temperature – add the pachaikarpooram powder – mix again – garnish with finely slice almonds & pistas, sprinkle crushed Spanish saffron – Serve.

**If U don’t want to used Condensed milk then the quantity of Sugar for ½ cup of rice will be 1 ½ - 2 cups; the milk will be 1 litre or a little more. Rest of the method is the same.