Sizzling Indian Recipes.....: Barley and ChanaDal Payasam / Kheer, sweetened with jaggery, cooked in slow cooker. {Sweet dish for Vishu celebrations.)

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Barley and ChanaDal Payasam / Kheer, sweetened with jaggery, cooked in slow cooker. {Sweet dish for Vishu celebrations.)

This year for Vishu festival I made Chana dal and Barley Payasam in slow cooker, this is my first attempt to cook Kheer/Payasam in slow cooker. It takes around 5-6 hours to cook and result is very delicious. Each grain cooks perfectly tender and retains its shape. You need to do few time supervision other wise it gets quietly cooked in the corner of the kitchen without feeling any stress. Earlier I have blogged similar jaggery payasam recipes with different combinations one is Barley and cracked wheat payasam and another one is Wheat,Chanadal,Brown rice payasam. Scroll down to check few slow cooker images captured while preparing payasam.

Ingredients :

2 - Cups Chana Dal / Kadla Parippu
3/4 - Cups Barley (I used pearled barley.)
10-12 - cardamoms - finely powder seeds
3 - heaped cups jaggery tiny chunks or powdered jaggery
5-6 Tb.spoon - Ghee
6-7 Tb.spoon sugar or brown sugar (use if needed more sweetness)
3/4 Cup - cashew nuts ( few whole cashews and few chopped cashews.)
1/2 Cup - golden raisins
3/4 Cup - grated fresh coconut
1/2 Cup - thinly sliced small coconut pieces.(Check garnish over kheer bowl)
7-8 Cup - water

Method of cooking Payasam in slow cooker :

Combine chana dal and barley together in a bowl, rinse well until water runs clear. Soak in water for around 3 hours. Pre-soaking is not must but it will help to reduce some cooking time. (I soaked only for one hour)
Break jaggery blocks into small chunks or make coarse powder. I put my jaggery blocks inside thick freezer zip lock bag and pounded with hammer to make small jaggery chunks.
Remove cardamom seeds from the pod, grind to fine powder. I used mortar and pestle to make powder. Another method is add cardamom seeds in a small ziploc bag, cover it with one more bag, place on the flour and pound with hammer until seeds are crushed to powder texture.
Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a tiny saute pan, just hot not smoking hot. Add golden raisins in two batches, stir fry in ghee stirring with small slotted spoon until raisins puff and turn golden brown. Quickly drain over paper towel.
Now add 3/4 cup grated coconut in the same saute pan, slow roast coconut until it turns aromatic and golden brown, about 3-4 minutes, transfer to bowl and keep it aside.
Wipe the pan with paper towel, heat 1 tbsp ghee, add sliced small coconut pieces, roast until they turn golden brown. Take it out in a small bowl.
In the same saute pan add some more ghee, add cashew nuts in two batches, stir fry over medium low heat until they get light brown color. Drain over paper towel.
In a slow cooker add 1 tsp ghee, drained chana dal and barley, 4 cups water. Set on high heat and let cook for 3 hours. Check after half an hour, stir, if it gets too foamy in the cooking process, remove foam. After three hours Dal and Barley will get perfectly tender. If it absorbs all water, do add some water while cooking and stir at some interval.
In the mean time heat 3 cups water in a small pot, add 3 cups jaggery chunks and powder. Stir to melt jaggery. Strain jaggery water by using fine tea filter/strainer or clean cotton cloth.
Once Chana dal and barley gets tender, add cardamom powder and 3 cups of strained jaggery water, roasted coconut pieces, roasted grated coconut. Mix well, continue cooking in slow cooker over high heat for one more hour.
Check consistency, if needed add one cup or more water. Check sweet level, if needed add 6-7 tbsp sugar or brown sugar. Reduce heat setting to low and let it simmer for another one hour. If you need thick creamy texture, swirl around with immersion blender for 20-30 seconds, this will partially break tender cooked chana dal, barley and bring thick pulpy texture.
Lastly add fried golden raisins, cashew nuts, 1 tbsp ghee. Mix well, let it rest in slow cooker until you are ready to serve. You can serve this payasam warm by drizzling melted ghee or add some milk to enjoy delicious tasting Jaggery sweetened Chanadal-Barley Payasam.