Sorakaya Payasam / Bottle Gourd Kheer

Kids look forward to summer vacation from the first day of school and it is the time parents dread to hear the words 'I am bored.' My little one keeps herself busy with her summer school (which ends this week), jumping around the house, watching TV and movies (after a lot of begging and nagging of course) and trying to find ways to free herself from matriarchal tyranny and the ultimate punishment of eating. With my older one, it is the other way around. After amusing enough for the day with all the fun activities he could think of, he turns towards me. After testing my I.Q. for a while, his attention shifts towards this blog. Probably because it is the only interesting thing he has ever seen his mom doing (other than cooking of course) and that too half heartedly. Also he is busy finding ways to make me blog. Below is one of our stimulating conversations. Him: 'Mom, why aren't you blogging'? Me: 'I will post something today'. Him: 'What are you going to post'? Me: 'Still thinking'. Him: 'Can you prepare a dish from scratch'? Me: 'What does that mean'? Him: 'Like everything has to be grown by you'. Me: 'Umm. If I knew how to cook with maple leaves, daffodils, hosta or roses'. To simplify matters this time, he shoots an easier one. Him: 'Can you come up with a new dish, which you can call your own'? Me: 'May be'. Him: 'Or how about something which I have never tasted before'? Me: 'Let me see' Him: 'A dessert'? Me: 'Sure'. I am amused by the way he asks those questions so innocently. He is fun to have around and is genuinely interested in my food blogging. When I started blogging almost a couple of years ago, he was 7. He learnt some HTML and Javascript coding from our book collection and helped me out a lot. Even now, if I have any problems related to blog, I go to him instead of my husband, who happens to be a technical guy. This payasam is for dear Shreyas who puts his 100% efforts towards anything he does. And, oh yes, he has never tasted this before. He, a payasam lover would be happy with this yummylicious dessert. He needs to upload some pictures though, before tasting it. This payasam is a pleasant addition to the other Indian bottle gourd dishes which range from mild dals, spicy curries, scrumptious koftas to delicious halwa. It is a quite simple preparation and anyone who knows how to grate and stir can prepare this.

Ingredients required: 1 cup of grated bottle gourd 3 cups of milk 1/4 + 2 Tbsp Sugar 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder 2 tsp + 2 tsp Ghee (clarified butter) 1 Tbsp of raisins and unsalted cashews I used half of a medium sized bottle gourd. I peeled, quartered, removed the seeds and grated it. I had about a cup of grated bottle gourd. Regarding the milk, it is better to go with whole milk or 2%. I used two portions of whole milk and one portion of 1% milk. Or try even adding a portion of evaporated milk. Any payasam tastes rich, delicious and creamy using milk with fat. Use fat free if you are the only person who is going to eat it or like a watery payasam. :) And coming to sugar, I used a little more than 1/4 cup sugar. Adjust the quantity according to the sweetness preferred. And last but not least important thing is, use a non stick sauce pan to prepare this payasam. You don't have to worry about the payasam getting stuck to the bottom or getting burnt or the cleaning mess. The cooking part: Heat two tsps of ghee in a non stick sauce pan and add grated gourd. Saute on medium flame for about five minutes. Then add about a cup of milk and let it cook on medium flame. You don't have to worry about the milk boiling over if you add milk in small quantities. Stir a couple of times in between. When the milk quantity has reduced, add some more milk and cook for few more minutes. Finally add all the milk, sugar, cardamom powder and let it cook for five more minutes. Heat two tsps of ghee in asmall pan and add the cashews and raisins and toast them till they brown and add it to the payasam. Totally I cooked for 20 - 25 minutes to reduce the milk to about 3/4 th the original quantity added. By this, you will have a rich, creamier kheer as I said above. I think the cooking time may be reduced if this is prepared in a MW.

This goes to dear Pooja's VOW - Bottle Gourd and Mythreyee' s 'Cool Desserts' . Post a Comment Recipe Source: Thanks to Deepthi who remembered to ask this wonderful recipe, when she called her mother.