Idichu pizhinja payasam / A traditional kerala dessert | Gayathiri's Cookbook

Idichu pizhinja payasam is a traditional Kerala dessert. The star ingredient of this payasam is coconut milk (which is extracted by grinding and squeezing scraped fresh coconut) In olden days, when there were no blenders or mixers, people used to pound the scraped coconut in a stone mortar. Idichu in Malayalm refers to pounding and pizhinja means squeezing and hence the name- Idichu pizhinja payasam. This is my favorite payasam. My grandma used to make this payasam for all of my birthdays.

Ingredients:
Rice- 1 cup
Coconut- 1
Ghee- 4 tbsp
Banana- 2
Jaggery- 2.5 cups
Cardamom- 3

Directions:
1.Grate the coconut or cut into small pieces.Add 3/4 cup water and blend it. Add 3/4 cup water and blend it. Squeeze the milk out and strain it. This is the first coconut milk.Keep it aside.
2.Now add 1.5 cups of water and blend it again.Strain the milk out in another bowl. This is the second coconut milk. Keep it aside.
3.Now add 2.5 cups of water to the coconut and blend it again. Squeeze the milk out. This is the third coconut milk.
4. Wash and then roast 1 cup rice in ghee for 2 minutes.Pressure cook the rice in 3rd coconut milk(minimum 2.5 cups) for upto 3 whistles.
5.Fry 2 bananas in ghee and keep it aside.In a heavy bottomed vessel, melt the jaggery(2.5cups) with little water. Strain to remove any impurities.
6.Add the cooked rice and let it boil for 3-5 minutes.
7. Add the second milk and boil until the mixture is thick.
8.The liquid will quickly evaporates and the payasam will become quite thick.
9.At this stage, reduce the heat and add the first coconut milk and the cardamom.
10. Mix it well and switch off the heat immediately.Finally add 1 tsp of ghee.

Payasam is ready!!!. Add fried banana before serving.

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