payasam

unakkalari ( small grained rice)-250 gms

coconut milk- extracted from 7 large coconuts. you require both the thick and thin milk.

jaggery- 1 kg

cashew nuts, kismis, badam-50 gms each

ghee- 2 tbs

cardomom pdr- 10-12 nos

coconut pieces-1/2 cup( chopped into very small pieces)

boil rice with water.

melt jaggery in 1/2 lt water and seive it. pour this to boiled rice and cook on high flame. continue cooking it till the jaggery syrup reduce to half.

grate coconut and extract three milks from it.

add third milk or thin milk of coconut to the rice jaggery mix.

(extract the milk from these coconut by adding luke warm water and blending it in a mixer and seive it. this thick milk is the first milk. put the coconut sediments back to the mixer, again add luke warm water and blend and seive it. this time you get a thin milk and this is called the second milk. like this you have to extract a 3rd milk also from the sediment)

cook till the 3rd milk is reduced to 1/4 th.

then add the second milk and cook till its reduced to 1/2.

finally add the first milk or the thick milk and just bring it to boil and turn off the stove.

heat ghee in a pan and fry the coconut pieces, and dry fruits seperately.

add this to the payasam along with cardamom pdr and stir well.

serve hot or chilled.