Parippu Pradhaman / Mung dal Kheer

The only time  I cook  exclusive Kerala sadya items is for our festivals Onam and Vishu and most of the dishes which I make for sadya's are not regular things in my kitchen, to be honest I cook these kind of food only twice in a year thats one reason you cant find many  Kerala special sadya items here. Every year during Onam and Vishu when I see my other blogger friends posting sadya items I too get excited about cooking a full fledge sadya and end up cooking an elaborate feast even if it is just us but after a long day of cooking I wont be in a mood to take out my camera, but this time I was dedicated. Even though I had to cook  for  8 adults and 3 kids I kind of preplanned everything and did a lot of things a day ahead.Even then photographing them was quite challenging, I didn't have the time for  styling it nor taking  pictures in different angles so I just went ahead and clicked few items. If I wait for good pictures  I am sure it will never happen. So this time I am aiming to post all the sadya items before Onam in september, oh yes I have still plenty of time but I am starting slowly so maybe for Onam at least few of my friends might find this helpful.

Making Parippu pradhaman is  quite a task back home as we take freshly squeezed  coconut milk from 1-2 coconuts  but here making  this hardly takes any time as coconut milk is readily available in tins. Did I tell you that this is my first attempt on Parippu paradhaman. Since  I was not fan of this payasam  I never kind of made it myself, but last year when my mum in law visited us she made this payasam for us and as I stood beside her watching her  making this without much effort  almost like an instant payasam without the fuss of extracting coconut milk impressed me , that's why I gave it a thought of trying it myself this time and believe  me I am in love with this payasam now and I am already  looking for another occassion to make this payasam some time soon.

Ingredients

Mung dal/ Cheri payar parippu - 1/2  ( 1/4 + 1/4 )

Jaggerry - 200-225 gm

Thick coconut milk - 1cup
Thin coconut milk - 4 cups
Salt - pinch
Cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp
Cahewnuts - 1 tbs
Sultanas/ Raisins - 1 tbs
Water - tbs
Ghee - 1 tbs

Method

•  Roast 1/4 cup of mung dal till its golden brown in colour 
• Roast the other 1/4 cup to a lighter shade, this is for some biting bits in payasam rather  than a completely mushy version.
• Mix 1 1/2 cups of thick coconut milk with 2 1/2 cup water for thin coconut milk and a pinch of salt.
• Pressure cook the dal with thin coconut milk for 2-3 whistles.
• Meanwhile melt jaggerry adding a tbs of water and strain to remove any impurities.
• Add melted jaggerry bring it to boil  and finally add  thick coconut milk and turn of the flame just before it starts to boil.
• In a pan add ghee and  cashewnuts  and sultanas and  roast until cahews are slightly borned and sultanas have plumped.
• Add this to the Payasam.