A spicy meal willingly invites along with it a sweet dish to soothe the palate. This sweet and light dessert was just the right one. After a spicy meal of Pepper Chicken and Garden Paushtik Pulao, I served the Chana Dal Payasam for dessert. This recipe to me is a discovery of making traditional sweets or desserts possible without gallons of ghee. Relish this dessert without that guilt as the recipe has more of jaggery for the sweetening.
Chana Dal Payasam
Time taken: 30 min
Taste-o-meter: Sweet
Ingredients:
- Split Bengal gram (chana dal): 100 g
- Ghee: 4 tbsp
- Coconut, cut into pieces: 100 g
- Cashewnuts: 5
- Milk: 3 cups
- Sugar: 1/2 tsp
- Jaggery: 1 cup
- Cardamoms (crushed): 5
Method:
- Wash and soak chana dal/split Bengal gram overnight.
- Melt a little ghee in a pan, add the coconut pieces and fry over medium heat till golden brown. Drain, remove and set aside.
- In the same pan add the cashewnuts and fry over a low heat till golden brown. Keep aside.
- Boil the split Bengal gram in a saucepan with just sufficient water to cook. When the gram is cooked, add milk and sugar.
- Cook till the milk reduces in quantity (almost by half), stirring once in a while.
- Add the jaggery and stir till all the jaggery melts and the mixture is of pouring consistency.
- Add the remaining ghee and the crushed cardamoms and mix thoroughly.
- Serve garnished with the fried coconut pieces, raisins, chironji, pistachios and cashewnuts.
- Garnish the payasam as per your requirement and availability of dry fruits.