Something sweet

I am usually not a fan of South Indian kheers. But, pal payasam or rice kheer is something I make an exception for. Reason- it also works as comfort food. And recently, I attempted in making some on my own. And though it wasn't as thick as it should've turned out to be, it tasted just fine. Or at least that's what my mom told me.

Here's the recipe I followed:

Ingredients:

• 4-5 cups of milk
• 14 tbsp sugar
• 5-6 almonds, roughly chopped
• 5-6 cashews, roughly chopped
• 6 cardamoms
• 1 pinch nutmeg powder (it gives out a nice fragrance)
• 1/2 cup rice

Method:

• Cook milk in a thick-bottomed vessel on a low flame.
• In the meantime, cook rice in 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water.
• Keep stirring the milk and add the almonds, cashews, cardamoms and sugar.Let it cook till it starts to thicken (this will take up to 45 minutes). Stir it occasionally, so that the milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the vessel.
• Add the cooked rice, nutmeg powder and let it simmer for two more minutes.
• Serve it warm or cold.

No South Indian function or festival is complete without kheer. There are are different versions of it like- jackfruit and coconut milk kheer, lentil kheer and  of course the vermicelli kheer which has variants all over the country. But, we'll get to that some other time.