This mildly sweet dish is generally prepared during “Ugadi” festival in all Konkani households. In other south Indian states too, a similar type of dish is prepared and it is known as "payassam".
Even though, I enjoy this dish, I would always hesitate to prepare it as it involves a cumbersome process of breaking the coconut, grating it, grinding it and finally filtering it to remove the juice of the coconut.
Thanks to the coconut milk which is readily available in the market, now all this work can be completely eliminated and can be quickly prepared without hassles. Ofcourse not everybody would agree with me but I being slightly lazy would always opt for a litle short-cut method !!
In the market a wide variety of coconut milk or coconut milk powders are available. I would recommend the Homemade brand which comes in tetra packs of 200ml. According to me, these are (as the name suggests) quite fresh and does not give the coconut oil smell if you use it as per their instructions.
Ingredients
| Channa dal ( | 1 cup |
| Tender Cashew nuts | 15 - 20 |
| Powdered jaggery | 1 cup |
| Coconut milk | 1 pkt (200ml) |
| Cardamom powder | 1-2 tsps |
| Rice powder | 1 tbsp |
| Water | 3 cups |
Method :
- Soak the tender cashew nuts in hot water for 15-20 mins. Then peel the skin and halve it and keep aside.
- Wash channa dal.
- Boil 2 cups of water. Add to it the washed channa dal and when it is almost cooked, add the halved cashew nuts.
- When dal and the nuts are cooked, add the powdered jaggery and mix well.
- Lower the flame and add rice powder. Stir well to prevent it from sticking at the bottom.
- Add coconut milk and stir again. If its very thick add a little water.
- Bring to boil and remove from flame.
- Finally add cardamom and mix well.
- Serve hot.
Serves : 6
Note :
You can substitute Moong dal (split green gram) or broken wheat or oats for Channa dal (split black gram) using the above method in which case the cooking time for each will vary accordingly.
Rice powder is added as a thickening agent. You may omit it altogether or use any other thickening agent of your choice ( like corn starch).
