Chana Dal Kheer / Senaga pappu payasam / Chana Dal Payasam - A religious festival recipe

 

Every part of India offers some form of kheer / payasam / payes during religious festival. This is a recipe prepared by chana dal and sabudana and is called by different names in different states. It is popular for Navratri, Ganesha puja, Maha Shivratri festival and several others. It is a tasty recipe and healthy too because of chana dal and sabudana.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 40 min

Servings: - 2~3 persons

Ingredients:-

• 1/3 cup Bengal gram or Chana Dal /Senga pappu
• 1/3 cup Sago/Sabudana/Roasted Semiya/Tapioca Pearl
• ¾ cup Jaggery
• ½  liter  Milk
• Handful of broken Cashew nuts
• Handful of Raisins
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• ½  cup Water for preparing jaggery
• 2 tbsp Ghee
• 2 tsp Cardamom powder

Preparation:-

1. Wash and soak Chana Dal for at least 45 minutes. Soaking reduces the time of cooking.
2. Soak sabudana in a bowl. Some sabudana takes longer soaking. You need to be aware how much soaking is needed
3. Add jaggery and ½ cup water in a pan and melt the jaggery in low heat w/o burning
4. Filter the syrup and boil it 2~3 mi so that it becomes thick. Keep it aside for cooling completely.
5. Add chana dal and 1.5 cup of water to a heavy bottom pan and cook it till it is half done.
6. Pour milk and sago on chana dal and cook till sago and dal is fully cooked.
7. Add cardamom powder and pour jaggery to the mixture.
8. Blend the whole mixture well. Adjust the consistency by adding more milk if required.
9. Heat ghee in a kadai and fry the cashew nuts. Keep aside.
10. Now fry the grated coconut in the same kadai and keep aside. Some prefer the grated coconut to be added directly to the  dal but I prefer this way as it produces a nice aroma
11. Some other people fry the raisin as well but I believe it makes them harder and not palatable.
12. Add fried coconut, cashew nuts and raisin to the dal mixture and mix well.
13. If you do not like the nuts or have allergies then just add 2 tbsp Ghee to the mixture and mix well.
14. Switch off the flame and your kheer is ready to serve.
    

That’s all folks. You can eat hot as prasadam or Freeze and serve cold. I prefer it cold as the taste is more pronounced that way.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.