Saggubiyyam - Kobbari Payasam / Sago and Coconut Kheer

A sweet pudding made with sago, jaggery and coconut

Growing up, the standard payasams cooked at home were either rice based paramannam or sago based one until the ready made vermicelli started selling in the market. To be honest, I did not use to appreciate the sago payasam as I do now. Sago kheer started to a become a regular feature somehow when I had my own home and hearth, and acquired the status of being a favorite payasam. 

I decided to switch to jaggery this time and also threw some coconut at the last moment. The resulting payasam was tasting so good that I have decided to stick to this new version in the future. The final payasam is creamy and delicious and has no resemblance to the stand version in any manner. Give this a try if you are looking for a payasam recipe and I assure that you would not get disappointed. 

Ingredients: (Yield 2 servings)
1/4 cup sago / saggubiyyam
1/4 cup shredded fresh coconut
1 cup milk
1/2 powdered jaggery
2 cardamom pods
1 tsp. ghee
1 tbsp. cashew nuts


Method:
* Rinse and soak sago for about 10 minutes in water. Drain and wash away the starch powder. I do it to get rid of some of the starch but this step is however optional.
* Choose preferably a non stick pot or a non stick sauce pan to cook kheer. Add drained sago and a cup of water and cook on low flame, stirring occasionally. Cook until all the sago pearls become transparent. 
(Starch keeps building up while cooking the sago and tends to stick to the bottom of the pan if not stirred intermittently. If one finds cooking sago tricky because of the starch buildup, follow this step. When the water used to cook sago becomes starchy, add another cup of cold water. Sago pearls go to the bottom of the pan and then throw away all the (starchy) water from the pan. Add a fresh cup of water to the sago and continue to cook. This step can be repeated one more time while cooking sago.)
* Crush the cardamom pods using a mortar and pestle. Grind the cardamom seeds fine. 
* Throw away all the water in the pan when the sago pearls become transparent. Add fresh coconut, jaggery, milk and cardamom to the pan. Cook on low flame until the jaggery melts and milk starts to boil. Turn off the stove.
(I usually add milk and jaggery together and it has never curdled. Touch wood. In case, if you feel milk is going to curdle because of the addition of jaggery, milk may be separately boiled in another pan, cooled and added finally.)
* Heat ghee in a small pan and add cashews. Toast them until they turn golden brown. Add them to the kheer along with the ghee and give a quick stir.
* The kheer can be served warm or chilled.


This goes to Blogging marathon # 89, under the 'Indian Sweets - Payasams' theme. Check out the page here to read what other marathoners are cooking.

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