Chana Dal Payasam (Bengal Gram Dal Kheer)

Blogging Marathon# 29: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Pick 2 Ingredients & Cook from a Book
Ingredients/ Cookbook: Chana Dal & Jaggery/ Dakshin 
Dish: Chana Dal-Coconut Payasam

Dakshin -- Vegetarian Cuisine from South India is one of my go-to cookbook when I'm looking for a South Indian dish. This book has many easy to make recipes mostly from Tamil Nadu and few from the other Southern states. I was hoping to find a kuzhambu or sambar recipe with the ingredients from Valli's list.

But to my surprise, I stumbled upon this Payasam (Kheer) recipe with chana dal and jaggery. It sounded different and delicious. I had all the ingredients on hand and I made it right away. I wasn't disappointed at all, this is one of the tastiest payasams I've ever made. Its creamy, not too sweet and tastes great hot, cold or at room temperature (I know because I ate it at all temperatures :-)

I hardly make payasams/ kheer at home because I'm the only one eating it. My husband doesn't like milk based Indian desserts and my son prefers his chocolate based sweets. I usually make may be 1-2 servings once in a while when craving strikes.
Lentil based kheers are rare in our household, vermicelli (semya), rice and sago are more common. So this chana dal payasam was new to me and it tasted amazing. It has grated fresh coconut and coconut milk along with jaggery and regular milk. I totally loved the combination of all the ingredients. I quartered the recipe, but I'm giving the full recipe from Dakshin.

Ingredients:
Chana Dal (Senagapappu/ Bengal Gram dal) - 1cup
Rice - ¼cup
Grated Fresh Coconut - ½cup
Coconut milk - 1cup
Jaggery - 1½-2 cups, grated
Milk - 4cups
Ground Cardamom - 1tsp
Cashews - 2tbsp
Raisins - 1tbsp

Method:

• Soak chana dal for 1 hour. Combine soaked dal and rice. Pressure cook with 3½cups of water for 4-5 whistles. Whisk the dal mixture and set aside.
• Combine Jaggery and ½cup of water in a thick bottomed pan. Simmer until  jaggery melts. Strain through a fine muslin cloth to remove the dirt. 
• Add dal mixture to jaggery along with 2 cups of milk. Continue to simmer.
• After 10 minutes, add the rest of the milk and simmer for at least 20 minutes.
• Add grated coconut, coconut milk and ground cardamom. Cook for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat.
• Meanwhile heat 1tbsp ghee in a small saucepan; fry cashews and raisins until golden. Add to the payasam.
• Serve warm or at room temperature or chilled.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 29.