Semia Payasam / Vermicelli Kheer

How about a sweet bowl of payasam after a good lunch?
I know many of you cannot resist, for sure!

Vermicelli, known as Semia, in Tamil or Malayalam goes into a variety of sweet and spicy South Indian dishes.Payasam is the dessert version of it, boiled and blended with thick milk, topped richly with dry fruits, nuts and a pinch of saffron, with a delicate touch of cardamom, a must served item for a feast or an auspicious day.

I used Mehran wheat vermicelle, a pre roasted Pakistani product,which proved to have contributed a better outcome than the normal maida semia.I tried making Semia Payasam in a traditional way,stirring up in the Uruli, this time,and of course, proved to be a greater success!.The advantage of Uruli for making payasam is that it never allows milk boil over,uncontrollably and thickens the contents faster with its heavy bottom and broader surface area.

Here goes the recipe...

To make 2 litres of payasam which serves 15-20 dessert bowls.Cooking time-1 hour.

Get ready with:
3 litres or 3000 ml thick milk
100 grams of Mehran wheat Vermicelle
700 grams sugar(or adjust more or less as you please)
A tbsp of fresh ghee
100 gms of split cashews
Some raisins
1/2 tsp of powdered cardamom/elaichi

1/4 tsp of Saffron(optional)

Method:
1.Transfer milk into a broad flat thick bottomed vessel.Simmer when milk starts to boil,stirring occasionally,using a flat ladle.

2.When the milks gets thicker,after simmered to about 20 mins,crumble semia into almost one inch pieces and add to it slowly,stirring all the time,carefully to avoid lumping up.If you use regular semia which is not pre roasted,you may have to fry the semia in alittle of ghee separately and keep aside.

3.Simmer the mixture again,thickening it to about 15-20 minutes,stirring all the time.Add sugar.(when sugar melts,the payasam turns a little watery.So it's necessary that the payasam is thick just before adding sugar).

4.In this stage the payasam should have reached almost its semi thick consistency and should Not be allowed to boil much as the payasam tends to turn 'red' when the sugar content caramelises.Therefore simmer only for another 15 miutes,in the final stage.Remove from fire.

5.Fry cashews till golden and sauté raisins,using ghee in a separate pan.(Use the same pan if you had fried the semia earlier).I didn't use raisins, as there are raisin haters in my home.Stir in both into the payasam.Add cardamom powder.

6.The payasam turns thicker when cools up and can be served hot or cold,sprinkled with saffron.

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