Fried Semigai Payasam

The basic ingredients in a payasam include milk, rice, ghee and jaggery. It is garnished using dry fruits such as almonds, cashews, raisins, dry coconut (copra), etc. There is a popular version of North Indian kheer, prepared during festivals and havan in Varanasi which uses only milk, rice, ghee, sugar, cardamom, dried fruit, and kesar (saffron milk). It is an essential dish in many Hindu feasts, weddings, and celebrations.

While the dish is most often made with rice, it can also be made with other ingredients, such as vermicelli (semiya in South India, seviyan, sayviah, or other spellings) or tapioca (locally called sabudana). The Kashmir equivalent of payasam is firni which is made with semolina (suji), milk, saffron, sugar, dry fruits, etc.

In Gujarat, a variation of kheer known as d?dp?k, is made. The ingredients remain largely the same, but the cooking process is different and dudhpak is less dense and thick than kheer. The Odiya version, called kheeri is an integral part of the food served to the god at Jagannath Puri temple. The South Indian version, payasam (in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu) or payasa (in Kannada), is an integral part of traditional South Indian meals and in festivals. South Indian payasam makes
extensive use of jaggery (vellam, bellam, bella, sharkkara) and coconut milk in place of sugar and milk. Vermicelli (semiya) is commonly used. The most common types of payasam in South India include milk payasam, sago/tapioca pearl payasam, Semiya (vermicelli) payasam, Paruppu payasam, Nei (clarified butter) payasam (also known as Aravana payasam), Carrot payasam, Wheat payasam, Wheat rava (wheat semolina)payasam, and Arisi Thengai (coconut and rice) payasam, Payasam is less thicker compared to kheer. In a South Indian meal, payasam or payasa, is served first at any formal or auspicious occasion.

Payasam is also served after rasam rice, while rice with buttermilk forms the last item of the meal. Payasam also forms an integral part of the Kerala feast (sadya), where it is served and relished from a flat banana leaf. In Kerala cuisine, there are several different kinds of payasam that can be prepared from a wide variety of fruits and starch bases. For e.g. chakkapradhaman made from jackfruit pulp and adapradhaman made from flat ground rice.

Karnataka payasa variants include the popular gasa-gase payasa made with poppy seeds, coconut (ground or grated), jaggery and a few almonds added at the end. Another one is the appey payasa which is poori (a deep fried flat bread made of wheat) with payasa. Akki payasa is made with rice, milk and jaggery, shavige payasa has vermicelli added to akki payasa or gasagase payasa. Hesaru payasa is made with green gram pulses or moong dal, jaggery and coconut milk. Godhi huggi is made with broken wheat, jaggery and coconut milk. Finally, the ell-neeru payasa is a coastal dish
made from tender coconut.

Payasa, Kheer/Kheeri etc. are also auspicious food fed to an infant during the annaprasanna ceremony, its birthdays or janmatithi, bhog prasad in the temples of Bihar, Bengal, Orissa.

The most basic payasam/kheer is the rice payasam.

• Keep semolina in a tray and add water three ¾ palam. Knead it well in circular motion and set aside for an hour. Pound it in a pounder until it becomes soft. Add little water if necessary and pound again. Add salt, hardened ghee. Grind this both and add it to the kneaded semolina. Pound again until well mixed.
• Stretch it lengthwise like a ling, thin wire and put it to dry on a stick. After it dries set it aside without breaking it much. This is called semigai.
• Pour milk into a pot that can hold 3 padis of water. Keep it on the stove and stir it often with a brass ladle. When the milk condenses to half, take ghee.
• Heat the ghee in the iron pot. Fry the semigai and put it in the thickened milk. Stir it with the ladle and when it becomes thick, add sugar to the semigai kheer.
• Soak almonds in hot water, remove the skin. Fry almonds in ghee and add it to the payasam. Also add nutmeg powdered, mace, cardamom separately and put it in the payasam. Fry raisins in ghee and add to the payasam. Saffron can be dissolved in little milk and added to the kheer.

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