Aval Payasam

Month of April is festival time in South India, it marks the start of New Year. While people of Karnataka & Andhra celebrate New Year as Ugadi, Tamilians celebrate it as Varusha Pirappu and for Malayalis, it is Vishu!

Here is a simple & wonderful recipe of aval payasam that you can enjoy during any festival season!

Basic Info
Complexity - Simple
Prep time - NA
Cook time - 20 mins
Serves - 3-4

Ingredients
Thick Aval (poha) - 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Ghee - 3 tsp
Cashews - 6-8 nos (broken)
Raisins - 6-8 nos
Whole Milk - 1 to 1.5 cups
Cardamom powder - 2 big pinches
Sugar - 1/3 cup

Method

Bring 1 to 1.5 cups of milk to a boil and keep it aside.

In a thick bottomed saucepan, heat a tsp of ghee, roast cashews & raisins until golden brown and set aside.

In the same pan, add rest of the ghee and roast aval until crisp. To this, add water and let the aval cook completely. Once aval is cooked through, add sugar and let it completely dissolve in the aval mixture and come to a light boil.

Remove from heat and add boiled milk, cardamom powder to the payasam and mix well.

Garnish with cashews & raisins and aval payasam is ready to be served!

Note:
- Add more or less milk depending on the consistency you want.
- Add more or less sugar depending on the sweetness you like.