Carrot Kheer/ Carrot Paayasam
Festivals are all about celebrating the day in the right spirit. It was Tamil New Year a few days back and I dished out some festival preparations. Food preparations during festival times generally involves a combination of savoury and sweet items. This time I decided to take the kheer route for the sweet preparation. Kheer is basically a pudding with milk and sugar. You can choose different base ingredients to blend with those flavours. My choice – Carrots! They bring vibrant colour and flavour to desserts. The carrot kheer turned out to be delicious. It tastes great hot or chilled. I did not get time to take a picture of the entire process so I am posting a combined picture of all the preparations. In the pic from (L to R clockwise): Curd rice with seasoning, Lemon rice, Carrot Payasam/Kheer, Raw Mango Pachadi
Recipe Details :
Makes: 2 bowls
Time: 30 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients :
- 4 carrots, chopped into cubes
- 1.5 cups milk
- 7-8 cashews, halved
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 5 tbsp sugar (I used brown sugar)
- 2 cardamom pieces, powdered
- 4-5 saffron threads (optional)
Method:
- Cook the carrots in enough milk to cover them on low-medium flame. By that I mean just ensure that the carrots are submerged. Stir from time to time. To test for doneness, remove a piece of carrot and cut it with a spoon. If it is sufficiently soft, switch off the flame and set aside the carrots to cool.
- After 20 mins, blend the cooked carrots and the cooking milk into a very fine paste.
- Heat the ghee in a small pan and add the cashews. Toast the cashews in the ghee till they are golden brown. Keep the cashews aside.
- Now add the carrot paste and saffron threads to the pan in which the remaining ghee is present and mix it well for around 10 mins.
- Now add half a cup of water and the sugar into the paste. Stir the sugar in the paste till it is fully dissolved. Now switch off the flame.
- Check the consistency at this stage. If it too thick, add a little more milk according to your liking.
- Finally add the roasted cashews and cardamom powder on the top. Refrigerate it before serving and you are set for some delicious kheer.
Tips :
- Do not roast the cashews on high flame as they burn.
- While blending, ensure that it is an extremely smooth paste.
- If your carrots are inherently very sweet, adjust sugar levels accordingly.
I don’t like to “adulterate” my payasam with anything but your recipe tempts me to. Should I gone in to the temptation?
I totally get where you are coming from but you should yield into this temptation 🙂 Thank you 🙂
Its an amazing one you have come up with. Shall definitely try this one.
Thanks a lot Vinusha, do let me know how it turned out 🙂
This sounds so delicious… I’ve never heard of Carrot Kheer/ Carrot Paayasam and I’m so happy that you’ve shared this.. I can only imagine the sweet carrot taste with the cardamom and cashews… Just lovely… 🙂 I may have to give this one a try!
Thanks Prudy 🙂 Yes, do let me know when you try it. Along with cardamoms and cashews, the dark orange coloured saffron threads on the light orange coloured carrot paste give it a nice burst of colours 🙂
Never eaten it but the addition of cardamom, sugar and saffron is super crazy. I love all those ingredients so I can actually taste it!!!
Thanks Liz! The ingredients that you mentioned definitely elevated the dish to the next level 🙂
Mmm maybe i should have been there taste tasting!!
Most welcome Liz 🙂 Till then with your amazing culinary skills, you can try this in a jiffy 🙂
I love love love kheer, it’s been too long since I last made it and you’ve got me craving it now! Mmmm, will have to make it soon I think. Thanks for the reminder!
Glad the dish reminded you of one of your favourite dessert cravings 🙂 Thank you!