Semiya payasam/kheer ( Vermicelli pudding)

Any festival or happy get together, kheer is an easy and favorite dessert. No religious celebration is complete without kheer or payasam. In North India it is called kheer and in South India it is known as payasam. Payasam is made using different ingredients, basically cooked in milk and sugar/jiggery, like rice, vermicelli or sago pearls or daliya. Vermicelli also known as semiya.

Even though vermicelli looks very much like pasta, it is quite different. Vermicellli (roasted or plain) is available in many Indian stores. If, you have no access to any Indian store in USA, you can use angel hair (capellini) pasta.

As vermicelli is sautéed in ghee, the kheer is an aromatic and delicious dessert which can be served warm or chilled.

In addition to the green cardamom powder, I  have used patcha karpuram (edible camphor). Edible camphor is available in Indian stores, and imparts a very unique flavor to the sweet prepared.

Ingredients like vermicelli, almond slivers, raisins,
cashew, camphor and cardamom.

 

Ingredients:

•      1/2 cup vermicelli
•      3 cups whole milk or half & half
•      2/3 cup sugar (according to taste)
•      2 Tbsp. cashews
•      1 Tbsp. almond slices
•      2 Tbsp. raisins
•      10 almonds
•      1/2 Tsp. cardamom powder
•      A pinch of edible camphor
•      2 Tbsp. ghee (clarified butter)

Directions:

1.      Soak almonds and a few cashews in hot water for 2 to 3 hours.
2.      Heat ghee in a deep and thick sauce pan.
3.      Add rest of cashews and fry for a few minutes.
4.      When cashews are turning golden, remove them and place them in a dish.
5.      Add almond slivers, fry for a few minutes and remove them.
6.      Add raisins and fry. Remove them and set aside in a bowl.
7.      In the same pan, fry vermicelli in the remaining ghee.
8.      When vermicelli is turning brown, add milk.
9.      Keep stirring so that the vermicelli is not getting into lumps.
10.      Once milk starts boiling, reduce heat and let the mixture simmer.
11.      Let vermicelli cook in milk for about 10 to 15 minutes.
12.      Grind peeled almonds and cashews in a mixer to a paste with a little water.
13.      Add it to the milk mixture.
14.      Keep stirring so that the kheer does not start burning at the bottom.
15.      When vermicelli is soft to touch, turn the heat off.
16.      Add sugar and mix well.
17.      Add cashews, almond slices and raisins.
18.      Add cardamom powder.
19.      Place a few grains of sugar in your palm or a small bowl and add camphor to that.
20.      Rub with your fingers, so that camphor becomes fine powder.
21.      Add the powder to kheer. Mix well.
22.      Kheer or payasam can be served warm or chilled.
23.      Makes a nice dessert whether in summer or winter!