![\"A](\"\/mahanandi\/images\/moongdalpayasam\/pesarapayasamimagecopyrighted3.jpg\")
\nA Cup of Moong dal Payasam for Indian Sweets~101<\/a><\/font><\/small><\/center> <\/p>\n
If I have to choose between a cup of payasam and a slice of cake, I’d always go for the cup. Here, mothers prepare cakes lovingly; back in India, payasams are the norm. Every Saturday my mother would prepare payasam for puja naivedyam<\/em>. I believe she prepared payasam mainly because of us, four little darlings:), who would come home from school hungry for something sweet. We had half-day school on Saturdays and afternoon meals at my mother’s home always included a type of payasam. Creamy rich with full of cashews and golden raisins, it was like spoonful of heaven on a warm afternoon. <\/p>\n Together between my mom and mother-in-law, there are recipes for at least a dozen different payasams. Who would really need a cook book when you have this type of rich resource right a phone call away? Because they all follow a basic method, it’s not that difficult to remember the procedure. Moong dal payasam is one such easy recipe I picked up from the family. <\/p>\n Moong dal<\/a> is cooked in sweetened and thickened, rich poppy seed<\/a> milk. Light golden hue, incredible, inviting aroma and delight to the senses – this is how I would describe this payasam.<\/p>\n Recipe:<\/strong><\/p>\n Moong dal, yellow<\/a> (pesara pappu) – 1 cup Prep Work:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1<\/strong><\/font> In an iron skillet or tava, heat a teaspoon of ghee on medium heat. Add and roast, yellow moong dal<\/a> until the color changes from yellow to light red and releases the wonderful fragrance. Remove them to a plate. Aromatherapy starts with this first step. <\/p>\n 2<\/strong><\/font> In the same iron skillet or tava, heat a tablespoon of ghee on medium heat. When it is hot, add and toast first golden raisins and then cashews. Golden Raisins puff up like little gold balloons and cashews turn from creamy white to light gold. Take care not to burn. Remove them to a plate.<\/p>\n 3<\/strong><\/font> Powder cardamom seeds to smooth powder in a mortar using the pestle or in a spice grinder.<\/p>\n In a pressure cooker, take roasted moong dal, sugar, milk and soaked poppy seeds<\/a> along with the water it’s soaked in. Mix and close the lid. Pressure cook until two whistles. Once all the valve pressure is released, remove the lid and with a wood-masher or immersion blender lightly mash the dal. Pressure-cooking is my method; I follow it mainly for the convenience of not stirring and for the speed. In actual recipe, they would take all the ingredients in a wide, thick-bottomed vessel and cook until the dal reaches fall-apart stage. If you don’t have a pressure cooker at home, then follow the second method. It may take little bit more time, but the end result will be worth the trouble, I promise.<\/p>\n Add the toasted cashews and golden raisins along with the ghee they toasted in. Also stir in the cardamom powder to the cooked payasam. Have a taste and add sugar and milk, if needed. Simmer the payasam on medium-low heat about 20 to 30 minutes, until it reaches thick, creamy consistency. Serve warm or cold.<\/p>\n Poppy seeds can block the cooker nozzle and that may create a mess, if they not soaked in warm water beforehand. Soak poppy seeds in water first, if you are to cook this in a pressure cooker. A Cup of Moong dal Payasam for Indian Sweets~101 If I have to choose between a cup of payasam and a slice of cake, I’d always go for the cup. Here, mothers prepare cakes lovingly; back in India, payasams are the norm. Every Saturday my mother would prepare payasam for puja naivedyam. I believe she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,145,106,115,59,151,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authentic-andhra","category-indian-sweets-101","category-milk-2","category-moong-dalwashed","category-festival-sweets","category-poppy-seeds","category-sugar-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nandyala.org\/mahanandi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"\/mahanandi\/images\/moongdalpayasam\/pesarapayasamimagecopyrighted1.jpg\")
\nRoasted in Ghee – Yellow Moong Dal<\/small><\/center><\/p>\n
\nSugar – 1 cup
\nMilk – 5 cups
\nPoppy seeds (Khus-khus, gasa gasalu)<\/a> – ¼ cup
\n(Soaked in ½ cup of warm water for at least half an hour, to soften them)<\/small>
\nCashews and Golden Raisins, each – ¼ cup
\nCardamom (Elachi, aluka) – 6
\nGhee (neyyi)<\/a> – 2 tablespoons<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Toasted](\"\/mahanandi\/images\/moongdalpayasam\/pesarapayasamimagecopyrighted2.jpg\")
\nToasted in Ghee – Cashews and Golden Raisins<\/small><\/center><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/mahanandi\/images\/moongdalpayasam\/pesarapayasamimagecopyrighted4.jpg\")
\nA Cup of Moong Dal Payasam with Poppy Seeds, Cashews and Golden Raisins<\/small><\/center><\/p>\n
\nChana Dal Payasam – Link<\/a> <\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"