• Boodida Gummadikaya/ Ash Gourd – 1 cup, grated
• Fresh Coconut – 1/2  cup, grated
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Millk – 3 cups
• Ghee – 3 tbsps
• Cashew nuts – 10
• Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
• Food colour a pinch

Preparation Method

1. Squeeze the water from the grated ash gourd.
2. Grind the coconut gratings with water and extract the coconut milk.
3. Heat a pan, fry the ash gourd till the raw smell goes off.
4. Pour the coconut milk and milk.
5. Cook till the vegetable has become soft.
6. Mix the food colour in a teaspoon of  milk and add to it.
7. Add sugar and mix well.
8. Switch off the stove, once the sugar has dissolved fully.
9. Add the ghee roasted cashew nuts and cardamom powder.
10. Serve hot or refrigerate and serve chill.

• Grated Coconut – 2 cups, Medium tender
• Rice – 1 tbsp, soaked
• Sugar – ½ cup
• Cardamom Powder – ½ tsp
• Cashew nuts – 10
• Saffron – 5 strands
• Ghee – 1tsp

Preparation Method

1. Take a coconut which is not very thick or very thin inside.
2. Grate and grind along with a tablespoon of soaked rice & 1 ½ cups of water.
3. Strain the milk; this is called first coconut milk. Pour again a cup of water and grind again.
4. Filter the milk and keep it in a separate cup.
5. Repeat once again to take the third milk.
6. Keep separately the first, second and third coconut milk.
7. Take a thick bottomed vessel and pour the third milk.
8. Boil for 2 minutes and then add the second milk & sugar.
9. Stir constantly as rice added in this, it may stick to the bottom of the vessel.
10. Once the sugar has dissolved fully, add the first milk.
11. Soak the saffron in a teaspoon of hot milk.
12. Fry the cashew nuts in a teaspoon of ghee. Break the nuts into two.
13. Mix the saffron, cardamom powder and fried cashew nuts.
14. Remove the payasam from the stove, once it starts boiling. Boiling for long time may curdle the coconut milk.
15. Delicious coconut milk payasam is ready to serve.
16. Serve hot or in room temperature.

• Milk – 1 litre
• Grated Paneer – 1 cup
• Condensed milk – 2 tbsps
• Custard powder – 2 tbsps
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Rose Essence – 2 drops
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp, optional
• Cashew nuts – 10
• Almonds, pistachios – 2 tbsps, finely chopped
• Saffron – 8-10 strands, optional

Preparation Method

Boil the milk in thick bottomed vessel.

In the meanwhile, mix the grated paneer and sugar, keep aside.

Remove from the stove and add custard powder in the milk.

Now take a pressure pan and pour water so that the milk vessel can stand inside the cooker without shaking. This way of double boiling avoids the milk to get stick to the bottom of the vessel and the paneer will not dissolve into milk fully.

When the milk starts boiling add the condensed milk and allow it to boil for 2-3 minutes.

Add the paneer- sugar mixture to the milk. Adjust sugar according to your taste.

Remove from the stove once the paneer starts getting mixed in the milk.

Now add the rose essence & roasted and finely chopped cashew nuts, almonds & pistachios.

Serve the paneer kheer hot or refrigerated.

Variations

1. Make thin syrup of sugar and cook paneer in that for some time. Then add the paneer discarding the syrup to the thickened milk.
2. Instead of condensed milk, 2 tbsps of  corn flour or rice powder can be mixed in little cold and add in the kheer while the milk starts boiling.
3. Almonds and pistachios can be powdered and mix in the kheer to get rich taste.
4. Raisins and cherries can be added to the kheer.
5. Cardamom Powder, saffron or any other flavored essence can be added.

Word of caution

Adding more of grated paneer will make the kheer to taste like basundhi.

Ingredients

• Saggubiyyam/Sabudana                      -100 gms
• Rava                                                             -2 tbsps
• Milk                                                              – 4 cups
• Sugar                                                           – 100gms or to taste
• Cardamom powder                               – 1 tsp
• Cashew nuts                                             – 10
• Diraksha/Raisins/Kismis                    – 8
• Badam & Pistachios                                - 4 each, optional
• Ghee                                                            -1 tbsp

Wash and soak the saggubiyyam in water for 5-10 minutes.

Take a thick bottomed vessel and cook saggu in a cup of water.

It has to become soft and spongy.

In the meantime boil milk in a separate milk pan. Let it become little thick.

Fry the rava a teaspoon of ghee till the raw smell goes off.

Pour the milk in the cooked saggu.

Add cardamom powder and rava. Let it get cooked for 2-3 minutes.

Stir in constant intervals.Then add sugar & mix thoroughly and bring it to boil.

Saggubiyyam payasam/Sabudana payasam is ready to serve.

Garnish with badam, pistas, cashew nuts and kismis.

Variation

Jaggery can be used instead of sugar.

Word of Caution

1. Break the cashew nuts into two after frying in the ghee.
2. Milk may get spoiled if you cook saggu directly in that. So cook in water and then add boiled milk to it.

Ingredients

• Milk                                         – 500 ml
• Saggubiyyam/Sagu                 – 50 gms
• Biyyam pindi/Rice flour         – 200 gms
• Jaggery (white)                       -100 gms
• Sugar                                       – 4 tbsps
• Coconut                                  – 4 tbsps, freshly grated
• Cardamom powder                 -1 tsp
• Cashew nuts                            – 10
• Raisins                                     – 10
• Almonds &pistachios              – 10, chopped, optional
• Saffron                                                – 5 strands, optional,
• Ghee                                        – 2 tbsps
• Butter                                      – 1 tbsps
• Salt a pinch

Preparation Method
Soak Rice for 10-15 minutes. Drain and dry it in a cloth. Let it shadow dry for an hour or two. If soaked in night time, it can dry for overnight.

Mix the saggubiyyam/sagu and rice.

Now grind it in the mixer grinder into fine powder. Sieve and repeat the process till the all rice has become powder. Make this powder ready whenever you have enough time.

If not readymade rice powders can also be used.

Boil the milk in a thick bottom vessel by adding a glass of water and keep it aside.

In a vessel take the rice-sagu powder, add 2 tsp of sugar/ grated jaggery, a pinch of salt. Mix the butter with powder thoroughly.

Pour hot milk and make dough like chapathi and keep  it aside.

No need to do this stove top. There are chances of getting lumps of done on the stove.

Take the dough in the janthikalu maker (the smooth murukkulu (medium size hole) plate has to be used not the thin ones.) and press the flour in boiled milk.
Cook with low flame for 10 mts.
In the meantime, take half a cup of water and mix jaggery and boil until jaggery dissolves in water. Strain and Keep it aside.

Add this to the jaggery water to the boiling milk.

Add Cardamom powder, shredded coconut and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
Fry cashew nuts & raisins in one tbsp of ghee and add it to the palathalikalu.

Remove from the stove and garnish with almonds & pistachios.

Palathalikalu is ready to serve.

Serving warm gives good taste than serving chilled.

Variations

Only with rice flour without saggubiyyam can also be used.

Rice strings can be made without murukkulu/chakali maker also. Wet your hands with water/oil and start making small balls of about 2 inch, and then start elongating it into long string shaped. Do in this way, if you have enough time. This gives a traditional look and taste.

Only jaggery or only sugar can also be used, depending on your taste buds needs. Roast &crush the sesame seeds and add at the end along with the grated coconut. This gives extra flavor and taste.

To thicken the palathalikalu, 1 tbsp of rice flour mixed with some water can be added in the milk.

Word of Caution

Make the rice dough strings thicker so that it doesn’t melt or broken while cooking.