No south indian meal is complete without a sweet ending of Payasam. I am a Payasam girl. I love it all. Semiya Payasam / vermicelli pudding is luscious and creamy and has a textural bite from the vermicelli. Its flavored with cardamom and ghee. This is also a very popular dessert made on all festival days in Tamilnadu. They make this dessert in Kerala for Onam. Cardamom adds a very nice aroma to the payasam. Cardamom is the world’s third most expensive spice after saffron and vanilla.
The main thing about Semiya Payasam is to roast the vermicelli till golden brown. Indian vermicelli is way thinner than its American equal. So if you are in the US, use angel hair pasta broken into 3/4 inch pieces. I like to dry roast the vermicelli till golden brown. All eyes on the pan y’all! Vermicelli tends to burn quickly. Keep sauteing all the time.
- 1/2 cup vermicelli
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoon Ghee
- 3 tablespoon golden raisins
- 3 Tablespoon broken cashew nuts
- Dry roast the vermicelli on low flame sauteing until it turns golden brown and it gives the wonderful toasted aroma.
- In a heavy saucepan, heat milk on medium flame. Add the fried vermicelli. Simmer on a low to medium flame for 6-8 minutes, or until the vermicelli is cooked. Add the sugar and simmer for five more minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.
- In a separate pan fry the cashew-nut and raisins in ghee until lightly browned. Add it to the boiling pudding.
- Add in the cardamom powder (I use a mortar and pestle for powdering small quantities of cardamom and it works really well. )
- Serve it hot or chilled. We like it hot.