Happy New Year!! Here’s wishing you all loads of good fortune, luck and blessings in 2022. May this year bring back all the joy and happiness that we missed over the last two years.

And to start the new year here’s a sweet recipe to start the year on a sweet note.

Sometime back, during the festive season, I was on a call with my mother and we were discussing sweets, specifically the payasam we make during most festivals. I was telling her I was looking to make something new and different from the usual vermicelli or Dal payasam I usually made. She shared with me this recipe, which is simple, does not use milk and is really rich. I made it and it was a huge hit at home with requests to make it again. So I am sharing this with you too.

Coconut Moong Dal Payasam

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grated coconut
• 1 tbsp rice
• 2 tbsp Moong Dal
• 2 cups Jaggery
• Water as required
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 10-15 cashewnuts
• 10-15 raisins
• A pinch of cardamom powder

Method:

• Dry roast the rice and moong dal until the dal starts to become a golden brown. At this point, remove from the fire and keep aside to cool down.
• When cool, blend it to a powder and in the same blend, add the grated coconut and with a bit of water, blend it to a smooth paste. Make sure the paste is as smooth as possible.
• Halve the cashewnuts and Keep aside.
• In a pan, heat the ghee and fry the cashewnuts to a golden brown colour. Keep aside.
• In the same pan, fry the raisins till they plump up and keep aside.
• In the same pan, mix the coconut paste with 3 times as much water and boil the mixture in a low to medium flame.
• In the meantime, finely chop the jaggery till it comes to about twice as much as the coconut paste. When the coconut water mixture is at a nice rolling boil, add the jaggery and continue to stir so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Continue boiling for about 5 minutes after it reaching a rolling boil and at this point add in the cardamom powder, raisins and cashew nuts.
• Switch off the flame, let it cool slightly and serve.

It is delicious served hot and cold. Also note that as the payasam cools down, it will also thicken a bit more, so don’t be too worried if it’s thinner than what you expected.