Payasam in South India or Sewai in North India are almost similar preparations except that the traditional payasam is done with jaggery & coconut milk & in North it’s done with sugar & milk either using rice or vermicelli. Although presently there are many variations of payasam thru out the country.

Today’s delicious payasam dish is done by our guest chef Shanthi Satish and is called Caramel Payasam. Here the vermicelli is cooked with milk & condensed milk and dressed with fried cashew nuts & raisins. The charm is that the finally the dish is completed by adding caramelized sugar, well yes, it is a simple dish worth trying surely!

Step-by-Step Easy & Quick Recipe –

Prep Time         Cook Time        Total Time          Yields

10 mins               30 mins                40 mins           5 Servings

Ingredients:

Vermicelli – 150 grams

Nestle milkmaid – 1 small tin

Milk – 1 lt. (preferably full cream, whole)

Dry raisins – 20 pieces

Cashew nuts – 15 pieces (broken into small pieces)

Ghee (clarified butter) – 2 tablespoons

Sugar – 5 tablespoons

Instructions:

• In a heavy bottomed pan boil milk, once it reaches boiling point add vermicelli and simmer & cook on low heat.
• In a pan heat ghee and add cashew nuts & raisins, fry both till cashew nuts are lightly browned on edges and keep aside. Leave the left over ghee in the pan only.
• Once the vermicelli is cooked add the milkmaid condensed milk & mix well and cook for 3 minutes.
• At this point, on the side, add the sugar to the ghee in the pan and caramelize it.
• After 3 minutes add the fried cashew nuts & raisins to the vermicelli mix and after that add the caramelized sugar too. Mix everything well. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Note: Delicious sweet caramelizes payasam is ready to be served, enjoy a great dessert with family & friends. You can reserve few pieces of fried cashew nuts to garnish if you like. Bon Apatite!

Happy Cooking!!

Recipe contributed by Shanthi Satish