Paal Payasam / Rice Pudding / Rice Kheer / Milk Pudding

This payasam is the easiest of all. With just minimum ingredients it can be made quickly. After all it is Onam, and a payasam is a must have.

This time, it was at the last moment that I decided to go with this payasam. Well, I had to, as I had not planned well for payasam preparation for Onam in advance and hence didn't have ingredients to make our favorite payasam - Cherupayar Parippu Payasam. Neither did I have Semiya to make Semiya Payasam. So we ended up making it.

If you too are in the same situation as ours i.e. don't have the ingredients to make a fancy payasam, when you crave for one,then go for it.

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup of raw rice - washed thoroughly
2. 5 cups of milk
3. 1/2 cup of sugar
4. 3-4 cardamom crushed
5. 2 tbsp of ghee/ clarified butter
6. 1 tbsp of cashews
7. 1 tbsp of raisins

Method

• In a skillet, heat up the ghee. Now fry the cashews and raisins in it . Keep it aside.
• In the pressure cooker, take the cleaned rice, milk, cardamom and sugar. Place it on the stove on low heat.
• Let it cook on low flame untill the first whistle goes off. Remove it from the heat and let the pressure subside. 
• Open the lid and give it a stir. The rice would have cooked by now and it would be a little creamy but not too thick.
• Garnish it with cashews and raisins.
• Serve it hot or cold.

Tips

• If you find the payasam to be too thick. Add some more milk and bring it to a boil on high heat. Adjust the sweetness and turn down the heat to low and let the milk thicken a bit. It shouldn't be too runny not too thick. Remove it from the heat. The payasam would thicken a bit after it cools down.