Marias Menu » Onam Recipes

Gothambu (Broken/Cracked Wheat) Payasam

Maria — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:18:59 +0000

Here is a sweet treat to celebrate Vishu. I think I’ve told you before..that we dont celebrate Vishu on a large scale. I try to make payasam every year and that’s the only special dish on Vishu day. However there is also another celebration for me on this day. It’s my parents Wedding Anniversary. Also it was my brother’s b’day on 12th April and one more good news is there…we welcomed a new member to our family this month. My cousin sis Ammu is blessed with a beautiful baby girl. So all in all, its celebration time :)

I had this payasam for the very first time around 2 months back, during my stay in Kerala. There was something special about my holiday this time. That was the first time I spent so much time with my Appa. All these years he was very busy with work and once he retired & became free, it was my turn to be busy. But this holiday we compensated for all the lost quality time. Since my Amma is still working, it was just the two of us during the day. Though we mostly ended up debating about almost every topic under the sun (at times, Sarasa checy came running from the kitchen wondering what’s all the commotion in the living room & another time our driver parked the car on the side road saying that he will drive only if we stop arguing..and what were we arguing about…ohh yeah Balakrishna Pillai, an ex Minister of Kerala being sent to jail, now you got a picture right ;)) we had so much fun. We went shopping together, dining out together & was even planning to go for a movie, but that didnt work out :(

Usually when I’m at home, I try my best to be at least 10 feet away from the kitchen. Because when I’m on holiday, sweating up in kitchen is the last thing I wanna do ;). So Appa & Amma never had a chance to experience my cooking (except once and that’s another story). I decided to make Gothambu Payasam with a little help from Sarasa chechy, since it’s my Appa’s fav. He liked it very much & I was a happy girl. As I said, it was the first time I had this payasam. I’m a die hard fan of Parippu payasam and always looked down at this as a poor cousin of parippu payasam. But I was wrong. After all I’m game for anything with jaggery, coconut milk & ghee. How wrong can it be :)? Since the excitement factor was too much when I made it at home, I completely forgot to note down the measurements. So I made it today again, just to give you the correct measurements & not because of my love for payasam. See I do take pains & make sacrifices for you ;)

Here is a picture of broken wheat, just in case you are curious, how it looks like…

Wish you a very happy Vishu! Hope you celebrate it with your loved ones. Hope you like our Vishu Kaineetam.

PS: I’m free tomorrow, if you are making a Sadya & wondering whom all to invite :)

You can check out the Sadya recipes here.

Other Payasam recipes:

Here is the recipe:

Gothambu (Broken/Cracked Wheat) Payasam

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Maria Jose

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

Broken wheat – 1 cup
Water – 4 cups
Jaggery – 500 gms
Water – 1/2 cup
Medium thick coconut milk – 3 1/2 cups
Thick coconut milk – 1 cup
Crushed Cardamom – 3
Ghee – 3 tsp
Cashew nuts- 1/4 cup
Raisins – 1/4 cup
Thengakothu (bite size coconut pieces) – 1/2 cup

Instructions

Pressure cook the cleaned broken wheat with 4 cups of water. I cooked it on high flame for around 6-7 whistles. Keep it closed for 15 mins. Drain if there is any excess water. Meanwhile melt the jaggery with 1/2 cup water. Strain the melted jaggery. Combine the melted jaggery & cooked wheat. Add 2 tsp of ghee to this. Cook this mixture, till the melted jaggery is completely dried. Add medium thick coconut milk to this & combine well. Let it boil. When it attains a thick consistency, add thick coconut milk. Give a good stir & mix well. Add crushed cardamom also. Let it cook for 5 more minutes on low flame & remove from fire. Keep in mind that the payasam tends to thicken as it cools.
Heat 1 tsp ghee in a small pan & fry the bite size coconut pieces first, when it starts changing colour, add cashews & raisins also & fry it. Garnish the hot payasam with fried coconut pieces,raisins & cashews. Serve hot.

Notes

The color of the payasam very much depends on the type of jaggery used. I used coconut milk powder the second time. To make a cup of medium thick coconut milk, add 2 heaped tbsp of coconut milk powder to a cup of warm water. For a cup of thick coconut milk, add 3 heaped tbsp of coconut milk powder to a cup of warm water. You can increase or reduce the qty of ghee to suit your taste. Also before adding melted jaggery to wheat, make sure that wheat is cooked well.

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Happy Vishu

Maria — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:04:51 +0000

Its been sometime right? Well.. I was a bit busy for the past 2 weeks or so. Btw, thanks a lot for your encouraging response for the Sweet Punch initiative. We will be updating you wit more details shortly.

So, how’s your Vishu preparations going on? Planning to make sadya? Back home, we don’t celebrate it much, but I have very fond memories of our neighbors giving us payasam :) However since I don’t have any such luxuries here, I myself make a payasam for Vishu.

We wish you a Happy & Prosperous Vishu! Hope you have a great time with your loved ones.

I’m happy to say that I’ve received Vishu kaineetam from some of you. Yep, I got lovely kaineetam in the form of snaps from you. Please do check out Reader’s choice to see the snaps. Thanks a ton friends :)

For Vishu, I would like to share with you the recipes for Aviyal & Sambar. Two main items for the sadya.

Also check out other sadya recipes:

Aviyal

Maria — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:02:47 +0000

I was quite happy after making this dish. It’s not everyday that I make an aviyal and it turns out great. I should say that I’m more comfortable cooking Kerala style non veg dishes than the veg ones. I do make the normal stuff like thorans and mezhukkuperatty. Elaborate ones like aviyal and sambar is made only once in a while. Anyways after the success with this aviyal, I’m a bit more comfortable and interested in cooking such kind of dishes.

I am not very sure about what all veggies are there in the traditional recipe. Here in this recipe, I’ve used the veggies that we both like :).

Here is the recipe for aviyal:

Assorted veggies – 3 cups, cut lengthwise (refer notes)
Water – 1.5 cups
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder – 1/4 tsp
Coconut – 1/2 cup
Green chilly – 2-3
Jeera – a pinch
Water – 1/2 – 1 tbsp
Yogurt – 1/4 cup, beaten
Coconut oil – 1 tsp
Salt
Curry leaves

Grind together the number 3 ingredients into a thick paste. Cook the veggies with number 2 ingredients and salt. When the veggies are 3/4th cooked, add the ground paste. Mix well. Cover and cook till the veggies are done and the raw taste of coconut paste is gone. Add yogurt and mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes more and just before removing from the gas, add the coconut oil and curry leaves. Serve hot with rice.

Notes: I used Drumstick, golden cucumber, Pumpkin, carrot & raw plantain (pachakaya). The above qty serves around 4 people.

Sambar

Maria — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:02:07 +0000

I’ve got requests from some of you for a sambar recipe. All that time, I never thought I would be able to post its recipe here.

During my initial days of cooking whenever I made sambar, it was close to disaster. Finally, I resorted to some ready made mix of sambar for sometime and then got bored of it lately. Running out of options, I decided to try it again and this time I did make it successfully. Again I’m not sure this is the “method” for making sambar. However this is my method and it works well for me :) We both, Jose & myself like thick sambar, so I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly.

Btw, I’ve taken this picture in my mobile camera. My camera’s battery was over and I discovered it only after dressing up the sambar for photo session. Since I didn’t want to disappoint the sambar after all the make up and attention she got, I decided to try it with my mobile cam :). Hence the clarity is not that great.

Hope you will like my version of sambar :)

Here is the recipe:

Toor dal – 3/4 – 1 cup
Water – 2.5-3 cups
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Carrot – 1, cubed
Potato – 1 small-medium, cubed & half cooked
Drumstick – 2, cut lengthwise
Tomato – 2, sliced
Ladies finger(vendakka) – a handful
Tamarind – size of a lime (adjust the qty as per your taste)
Sambar powder – 1.5 – 2 tbsp
Asafoetida (kayam) – 1/2 tsp
Small onion – 5, sliced finely
Red chilly – 2
Mustard – 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Pressure cook the dal with water & turmeric powder on high flame for 4 whistles. Keep it closed for 30 minutes or till the steam goes. Mash the cooked dal well using a wooden spoon. Add 3.5-4 cups of water to the mashed dal and blend it well. Add salt and all the veggies except the potato to this. When the veggies are half cooked add potato and the tamarind pulp. Cook till all the veggies are cooked.

Meanwhile heat oil in another pan and add the sambar powder and kayam. Fry it for a minute, make sure that it doesn’t get burnt. Add some water to the powder and make a thick paste. Add this to the veggies and let it boil. Heat some more oil in the same pan and crackle the mustard seeds. Add sliced, small onions, red chillies and curry leaves. Fry it till the onion becomes golden brown. Add this to the sambar and mix well. Remove from fire.

Note: You can adjust the qty of water to suit your requirements. I’ve used Brahmins brand sambar powder. Also you can use the veggies of your choice.

Happy Onam….

Maria — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:25:41 +0000

Hope you are set for the Onam celebrations. As I’ve mentioned before in this space, I have made full fledged Onasadya only once, for the first Onam after our wedding. After that I haven’t made one, mainly because I didn’t have to. We were invited by some of our sweet friends for Onasadya at their place :), thanks a ton guys :).

I had some Kerala style veg dishes lying around in my drafts, so am just putting it together. Please have a look.

We wish you and your family a very happy onam. Hope all of you celebrate Onam true to its spirit.

Here are the recipes:

Inji/Puliyinji Curry

Pavakka Kichadi

Beetroot mezhukkupuratti

Carrot & Beans Thoran

Parippu Curry

Please check out the payasam recipes too:

Pavakka Kichadi

Maria — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:22:47 +0000

Pavakka (bitter gourd) – 1 medium size
Green chilly – 3-4
Grated coconut – 1/2 cup
Mustard – 1/4 tsp
Yogurt – 1/2 – 1 cup
Mustard – 1/2 tsp
Small onion – 2-3
Whole red chilly – 2
Curryleaves
Salt
Coconut oil

Crush 1/4 tsp mustard seeds. Grind the coconut into a smooth paste adding a little water and add the crushed mustard seeds to this.

Cut pavakka into thin slices. Heat oil in a pan and fry the pavakka pieces till it becomes golden brown color, make sure that it doesn’t get burnt. Keep the fried pavakka aside. Add curry leaves and green chilly to the same oil and fry it for 1-2 minutes & remove from fire. Combine the fried pavakka pieces, curry leaves & green chilly & add salt to it. Add coconut paste to the pavakka pieces+curryleaves+green chilly. Add yogurt to this & mix well.

Heat oil in a pan & splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves, whole red chilly & sliced small onion. Fry it till the onion becomes golden brown and pour this over the pavakka mix.

Recipe source: Vanitha magazine

Inji Curry

Maria — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:21:26 +0000

Ginger – 100 gm
Tamarind – size of a small lime
Chilly powder – 2 tsp
Coriander powder – 3 tsp
Jaggery – size of a gooseberry
Mustard – 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Salt
Fenugreek powder – 1 tsp
Coconut oil

Cut the cleaned ginger in round slices. Fry them in coconut oil. Crush the fried ginger using a mortar and pestle. Add 1 tbsp of water to tamarind and make a pulp. Add chilly powder, coriander powder, jaggery and salt. Mix well and add crushed ginger too. Add 1/2cup of water to this and mix well.

Heat some more oil in the same pan in which you fried ginger and splutter mustard. Add curry leaves and the tamarind, jaggery & ginger mixture. Let it boil till it becomes thick. Add fenugreek powder & mix. Remove from fire.

Notes: The above qty serves 2-3 people. Once it is cooled completely, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week or so.

Recipe source: Vanitha magazine