Cherupayar Parippu Payasam / Split Mung Beans Payasam

When engagement anniversary, wedding anniversary and birthday falls in the same month with an interval of less than a week, making specials for each event gets exciting but at the same time leaves us with too much of left overs. Yes, February is special for us. We used to bake cakes for each of these occasions, but realized that its too much for just two of us.

So now, we have come up with a solution of spreading it in the form of a special dinner or a cake/bake or a dessert - anyone of these for each of these occasion. Also these get to be made only in amounts that suffices our appetite and craving.

Last onam, while I was cherishing the thought of having Cherupayar Parippu Payasam, I told Jacob that if only our liking towards it would have been same, I would have been lucky. Else I would make it and I would have to drink it all. I wouldn't mind it though :P , but I would rather like to share than have it alone. Now, Jacob turns to me and says that this is the only payasam that he has ever liked in his life and he would be so happy if I made it. I was like, WHAT? It took me this long to realize that it was his favorite. Shame on me, right? I was misguided saying Semiya Payasam was his favorite and kept making it all these years. I have been missing out on having my favorite payasam for a long time. 

When we made it the first time, there was ultimate silence with just hmm/wahh sounds untill we scraped down the last drops of the payasam from our bowls. Since then we just find any reason to make it. This time it was made for Jacob's birthday. 

Do you too love this paysam? Then go ahead and make it. Its just heaven.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup Cherupayar Parippu / Split Mung beans
2. 1 1/2 cup + 1/2 cup of Water
3. 1 cup of shaved Jaggery
4. 3/4 cup of thin coconut milk
5. 1/4 cup of thick coconut milk
6. 1/4 tsp of powdered dry ginger
7. 1/4 tsp of cardamom powder
8. 1/4 tsp of cumin powder
9. A pinch of salt
10. 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp of ghee/clarified butter
11. Cashews as required for garnishing
12. Coconut bits as required for garnishing

Method

• Fry the cashews and coconut bits separately in about 2 tbsp of ghee. Remove it onto a paper towel and save it for garnishing the payasam.
• Heat a skillet and drop in the mung beans in it. Now lightly roast it such that when you pick a bean and bite it, it should crack. Remove it from the heat. Let it cool a little.
• Wash the roasted cherupayar parippu/ mung beans and drain out excess water from it.
• In a pressure cooker, take 1 1/2 cups of water and add the roasted beans to it. Pressure cook it. For me it took, 2 whistles on high heat for the beans to get cooked. 
• In a pan , take the shaved jaggery and 1/2 cup of water. Boil it untill the jaggery dissolves completely. Add the cooked mung beans to it. Turn the heat to medium high and keep stirring it untill it gets thick in consistency. Add 1 tbsp of ghee to it and stir it.
• Meanwhile, to the thin coconut milk, add the ginger powder, cumin powder, cardamom powder and pinch of salt and stir it. Add this mixture into the payasam. Keep stirring it untill it comes to a boil. 
• Now add the thick coconut milk. Cook it untill it just starts to boil. Remove it from the heat.
• Garnish it, with fried cashews and coconut bits. Serve hot.
• Yields around 3 glasses of payasam.

Tips

1. Keep stirring the cherupayar parippu/ split mung beans continuously while roasting it to avoid burning.
2. Its easy to remember the measure of the ingredients. Amount of water used to cook the beans should be three times the measure of beans. Amount of jaggery used should be twice the amount of beans used. At the same time, the sweetness of the payasam would truly depend on the quality of the jaggery used. 
3. Adjust the amount of cumin, cardamom and ginger as per your taste. 
4. Try using dark colour jaggery which gives it the authentic look to it.
5. If you do not have the luxury of making fresh coconut milk at home, canned coconut milk is good enough. You could adjust the thickness of the coconut milk as required.
6. You could fry some raisins and use it to garnish the payasam.

Recipe courtesy : A culinary show from Amrita TV