Parippu Payasam

Parippu Payasam or Parippu pradhaman is a traditional South Indian sweet dish without which Sadhya ( feasts) is never complete. In Kerala, for festivals like Onam/Vishu this serves classic dessert. In childhood years, birthdays were one of the occasions which always secured Payasam as essential. CherupayarParippu (Moong Dal) cooked in jaggery and coconut milk, flavoured with cardamom, added with ghee and roasted cashews, chipped coconut….. makes it delicious with the aroma of its own kind!!

Ingredients

• Moong Dal (Cherupayarparippu) 1 cup
• Water 1 & ^_1/2 cup

• Sago Pearl ^_1/4 cup
• Water 1 & ^_1/4 cup

• Jaggery * 500 gm
• Ghee 3 Tbsp
• Coconut milk (dilute) 2 & _^1/2 cup
• Coconut milk (Thick) ^_1/3 cup
• Milk _^1/3 cup
• Cardamom 15 numbers
• Sugar 1 Tbs

• Ghee 1 Tbsp
• cashew nuts 15 numbers
• Raisins 2 Tsp
• Chipped coconut ^1/3 Cup

Preparation

Pressure cook Moong Dal adding one and half cups water. Just turn off flame at the first whistle and open immediately when steam is gone. The apt cooking of dal is the key. Set it aside. In another bowl add sago pearls and water as in ingredients #2 in low flame stirring continously. When it turns translucent and jelly like consistency turn off the flame.

Add the refined jaggery** to the cooked dal and slow cook, continuously stirring until the raw taste of dal disappears adding ghee intermittently to avoid being burnt. This is the main time consuming part and should be patiently done. When dal is partially caramelized, add cooked sago pearls. When its well mixed together add in 2 ^_1/2 Cups dilute coconut milk, and bring to boil on low flame. Keep on stirring so that it blends well in Dal and then add the thick coconut milk, finely ground cardamom (Cardamom is finely powdered with the sugar) and once it starts to boil, add in ^_1/3 cups of milk*** and when it starts to bubble, turn off the flame and keep it covered aside. Throughout the process continuous stirring is needed to ensure even blending of ingredients.

Now for the tempering part which makes it delicious, in a pan add ghee and when hot, add chipped coconut pieces and when it starts to change slight brown, add the cashew nuts and when it’s near to brown, add raisins and garnish the payasam on the top and cover it immediately and let it stay for ten minutes. Enjoy the Payasam 🍯 hot or cold ✌️✌️

Cooking Time : Around one & half hours

Servings: 7-9 depending on the bowl served

Full video can be watched in the following link

* Jaggery can be reduced if you need to reduce sweetness, after refining, while adding jaggery, keep aside small portion in order to add required amount, before adding last milk.

** Jaggery is refined by adding water to blocks and bringing to boil, when the lumps are completely dissolved sieve in linen to avoid tiny impurities. Bring this to boil until it acquires the preferred consistency on low flame continously stirring. Any further impurities bubbled up can be removed using a spatula.

*** (optional) Milk can be reduced to I/4 Cup