Ambalapuzha Paal Payasam and Happy Vishu Wishes/അമ്പലപുഴ പാൽപായസവും വിഷു ആശംസയും

Wishing Everyone A Very Happy Vishu !!

എല്ലാവർക്കും വിഷു ആശംസകൾ 

I agree, I had always been on and off throughout. But this phase of my life seemed the busiest ever. Family, Work and more work had kept me away from blogging for few months. I go through my fellow bloggers blog posts randomly but never get more than five minutes to sit infront of my laptop. I always feel guilty seeing my blog hybernating but did not have the time, energy and mindset to do blog post which needs a bit of compiling on write up and picture edits. I didn't want to do a random post which will not do justice to the recipe and myself.

Starting this year I have been actively involved in a Malayalee Association here in Washigton DC and is the Entertainment chair for Year 2014. We have a lot of events lined for year 2014 of which Vishu celebrtion was one of the most important one. NSGW celebrated Vishu 2014 on Saturday, April 12th for which we had in store a list of cultural programs. I had been co-ordianting for all the programs, finalizing the program chart, co-ordinating with choreographers, staging the kids group, conference calls on delegating tasks etc etc whick took most of my evenings and weekends. And at the proffessional end it is crazy  busy with Release deadline coming up by end Of this month.

Even though the past 3 months had been hectic, the end result was really sweet and memorable one which I will cherish in my entire lifetime. The Whole Vishu celebration was purely Vishu theme based.  We didnt have any cinematic dance kind of programs, instead we had a pure cultural event where the kids and adults performed on Vishu related themes/skits and songs. At the end of cultural programs we had a proffessional Drama 'Viradam' based on M.T Vasudevan Nair's Novel 'Randamoozham' performed by a 'Akkarakazhchakal' serial fame Haridev and Sanjeev's proffessional drama team from NJ. We were all excited meeting the team and working with the group, I also participated in a folk dance as part of the drama and also our ladies dance team including me from Maryland, USA performed a semi-classical dance.

Okk, I think thats enough about the stories, now let me share with you the recipe of this Ambalapuzha paalpayasam which is very apt for making on Vishu day to be served to Lord Sree Krishna. Ambalapuzha Palpaayam is considered as the most favorite payasam of Sree Krishna in Ambalapuzha temple, Alapuzha. There is a very beautiful story tale behind the evolution of this very famous and delicious payasam. You can refer to this link to read more.

Ambalapuzha paal paayasam Recipe as follows

Ingredients:-

1. Unakkalari/Broken Matta Rice - ¼ Cup(If they are not available you can use Basmathi Rice)
2. Milk - 1 ½ Litre
3. Sugar - ½ Cup
4. Raisins few
5. Cashews few
6. Ghee - 1 tsp
7. Cardamom pods -6
8. Sugar - ½tsp

Preparation Method:-

• Pour milk into a pressure cooker, add sugar and stir well. Bring the milk to boiling point.
• Rinse the rice one or two times and add to the milk. Stir well again till the bottom making sure rice is not sticking to the bottom.
• Cover with the lid, put on the whistle. Reduce the heat to the lowest and let it cook for 20-25 minutes.
• Put off the flame. Let it cool down completely to open the lid.
• Heat up a small Wok/pan, add ghee, saute cashews and saute till golden brown. Remove and add to the payasam. Add raisins to the same ghee and saute till it pop. Add tot he payasam.
• Crush/grind the cardamom with ½ tsp of sugar and add to the payasam. Stir well and serve warm. Enjoy!!

Note: The smallest jar of the Indian Mixer is very handy to grind the cardamom pods and sugar to get the cardamom powdery, it smells awesome and blend well with the payasam without any tiny lumps.