Semiya Payasam

During my childhood days, the only payasam I loved , was Semiya payasam. I eat all kinds of payasam, but there was a special kind of loyalty towards semiya payasam. Invariably this is the payasam made for our birthdays. No choice on that. Post marriage, this is one payasam which I have prepared more often not waiting for any occasion to come up. It is mostly prepared as a dessert for dinner. Its a favorite with my husband too. When I ever I make the payasam, I don't measure the ingredients. Its just eyeball calculation. So its not necessary to strictly follow the below measurements. Less/more of any ingredient will not spoil the dish. Only the sweetness and consistency may vary. But you can be assured that it will not go waste.

Ingredients
Vermicelli/semiya - 1/2 cup
Milk - 4 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
cardamom powder -1 tspn
cashew/raisins for garnish
ghee for roasting

Method
Heat a kadai with a tablespoon of ghee. Add the cashews. When cashews starts to brown, throw in the raisins. Raisins will puff up and you remove the cashews and raisins from ghee. Add another teaspoon of ghee and roast the vermicelli till it starts browning.

Take a deep bottom vessel. Tip off the roasted vermicelli and 2 cups of milk. Bring to boil and cook in low flame. Keep adding the remaining milk at intervals. When the vermicelli is fully cooked and the rest of the milk is used up, add sugar. Simmer for few minutes so that the sugar is dissolved fully and the sweetness sinks into the semiya. Add cardamom and roasted cashews and raisins. Since we like to drink it from a cup, it has a pouring consistency. If you want to serve as a pudding, increase the quantity of semiya and adjust sugar accordingly. You can serve this warm or chilled. Hot/Cold, it tastes awesome.

This goes to the FIC:White event guest hosted at Kitchen Flavors, which is the brain child of Sunshinemom

This is one recipe which any novice person can make an attempt at, with out any fear of messing it up. So this goes to Ramki's Recipes for the rest of us event.

PS: I will be away for two weeks from my home and blog. I will not be able to blog-hop too. I will surely miss blogging. See you all after the break.