Paal payasam recipe with step by step photos – sweet, creamy South Indian kheer or pudding made with milk and rice.
Payasam or kheer is akin to a rice pudding. This is the simplest payasam recipe. Only four ingredients go in the payasam – rice, milk, sugar and ghee.
When Holidaying in Kerala, I came across different types of payasam in the hotels which we stayed. There was also a mixed lentil payasam served in one of the hotels. From the guruvayoor temple in Kerala, we also got a moong dal payasam as prashad. After tasting so many different types of payasams, I thought it was time to make them at home and for the blog as well.
So sharing this Simplest version of payasam. no flavorings or dry fruits are added in this one. The combination of rice, milk and ghee give such a good flavor & taste that you won’t feel the need to add any dry fruits or flavorings. But if you want, you can add the following ingredients and they are optional to add:
- Cardamom powder
- Nutmeg powder
- Rose water
- Kewra water
- Saffron strands
- Blanched and sliced almonds
- Chopped or sliced cashews or pistachios
- Raisins
The method of cooking this payasam recipe is a slow cooking method. This slow simmer gives its own rich taste to the payasam. It can be made in a pressure cooker too. I generally do not cook kheers and payasam in a pressure cooker as I do not want to take any chances of the milk spilling out from the cooker and creating a mess in the kitchen.
Paal payasam can be served hot or cold as a sweet or an after meal dessert. You can also make this payasam on festivals and offer it to your diety.
If you are looking for more Kheer recipes then do check:
Paal Payasam
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon basmati rice or any regular non sticky rice
- 1 litre full cream milk or full fat milk
- 4 tablespoon sugar or add as per taste
- 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
Instructions
- Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed wide pan or kadai.
- Add 3 tbsp basmati rice. Stir the rice grains and saute for about 30 seconds on a low to medium flame or till you get a nice fragrant aroma from the rice. Do not allow the rice to get browned.
- Then add milk which has been boiled before. The pre boiled milk can be hot, warm or refrigerated. Stir well.
- Bring the milk to a boil first on a low to medium flame. Do stir when the milk is getting heated up, so that the bottom of the milk does not get scorched.
- After the milk has come to a boil, continue to simmer till the rice grains are cooked. For quick cooking of the rice, I kept a lid on the pan. But in this case, you have to be in the kitchen so that you open the lid when the milk starts frothing up. Or else you can cook the rice uncovered. But do stir regularly.
- Another tip is cover the pan in such a way, so that some of the steam can be passed through.
- Continue to cook further till the rice grains are completely cooked. After the rice grains are cooked, you can even mash them while stirring with a spoon or spatula.
- Once the rice grains are cooked well, add sugar. Stir so that the sugar is dissolved.
- Simmer for a further 8 to 10 minutes till the milk has reduced and the payasam has thickened. Do keep in mind that as this payasam cools it will thicken more, so you can decide the consistency which you want.
- Serve paal payasam plain or garnished with saffron, rose petals or sliced almonds. You can serve it hot or cold. Keep in the fridge after it comes at room temperature.
Nutrition Info (approximate values)
How to make paal payasam recipe
1. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed wide pan or kadai. If you want, you can also add ½ tbsp ghee.
2. Add 3 tbsp basmati rice. I kept the rice whole. You can also coarsely ground the rice and then add.
3. Stir the rice grains and saute.
4. Saute for about 30 seconds on a low to medium flame or till you get a nice fragrant aroma from the rice. Do not allow the rice to get browned.
5. Then add milk which has been boiled before. The pre boiled milk can be hot, warm or refrigerated.
6. Stir well.
7. Bring the milk to a boil first on a low to medium flame. Do stir when the milk is getting heated up, so that the bottom of the milk does not get scorched.
8. After the milk has come to a boil, continue to simmer till the rice grains are cooked. For quick cooking of the rice, I kept a lid on the pan. But in this case, you have to be in the kitchen, so that you open the lid when the milk starts frothing up. Or else you can cook the rice uncovered. But do stir regularly. another tip is cover the pan in such a way, so that some of the steam can be passed through.
9. After 30 minutes the rice grains are ¾th cooked.
10. Continue to cook further till the rice grains are completely cooked. Here I have kept the lid in a way, allowing some space for the steam to pass.
11. Here the rice grain are cooked well. After the rice grains are cooked, you can even mash them while stirring with a spoon or spatula.
12. Once the rice grains are cooked, then add 4 tbsp sugar. You can add sugar as per your taste requirements.
13. Stir so that the sugar is dissolved.
14. Simmer for a further 8 to 10 minutes till the milk has reduced and the payasam has thickened. Do keep in a mind that as the rice payasam cools it will thicken more, so you can decide the consistency which you want.
15. Serve paal payasam plain or garnished with saffron, rose petals or sliced almonds. For the photo, I garnished with some dry rose petals chiffonade. You can serve the rice payasam hot or cold. keep in the fridge after it comes at room temperature.
Hii, Dassana will u suggest instead of sugar can i add milkmaid in it will it taste good or not….
shweta, if using condensed milk, then use it with milk. it will taste good. but cook the rice first in water + milk. once the rice is cooked, then add the condensed milk. so for 3 tbsp rice, you can use 1/2 litre of milk (2 cups milk) + 1 cup water or overall 3 cups milk. if required you can always add more milk. when the grains are almost cooked, then add the condensed milk. you can add 1/3 cup which i guess will be enough and not making the payasam too sweet. also in case the payasam becomes very sweet, then you can always add some more hot milk to reduce the sweetness.
Came out really well for today’s pooja… Thx a lot..
welcome vandhena and thanks for positive feedback 🙂
I have tried this on my wife’s birthday and it came out very well. Thank you!
welcome gowtam, thanks for positive views:)
Super recipes
thanks anitha.s
I try it today and it is amazing 😀
I will eat everything I have. Fantastic recipe. I give into it a cinnamon and it taste really good 🙂
Thank you :):):)
thanks a lot michaela 🙂
Hi Dasana,
looks awesome…will definately try this one. I tried most of your recipes and all turn out just awesome…I don’t have to modify it at all, specially with respect to dessert the amount of sugar that you mentioned in your recipes works best for our family.
Thanks a ton for posting new recipes.
A small request if you can include how to make dhoda at home in future…would be great !!
welcome shipra. glad to know this. thanks for sharing your positive feedback. i had dhoda many times (from Om Sweets, Sec 14 – Gurgaon) but i don’t know how to make it at home. i will have to try the recipe at home first.
Hi Dassana,
yes me too have it many times from Om sweets – Gurgaon. Now I moved to Singapore and really miss it on our festivals. So thought to ask you if you are aware of how to make it. I am sure you would be able to figure out and post that soon. Good luck with trying at home and hope to hear from you soon.
shipra, whenever our relatives come from gurgaon, they always get a pack of dhodha, patisa and petha. for dhodha i know the ingredients but never given a try. so lets see if i can try the recipe and then post. thanks. hope the trial is a good one and not a disaster 🙂
Lovely pics dassana!
Have u tried any Thai desserts using sago if so can u post the recipe or any dessert using sago
thanks lata. i have not tried any thai sago dessert, but i have seen them on the web. let me see if i can add during navaratri 🙂
Love to cook. Made your payasam, I was some good,
Thanks
If you have a news latter,with recipes, I would to get it
welcome bradley. there is no newsletter but i will add your email in feedburner subscription link.
Wanted to share few suggestions regarding the preparation of payasam, since I am from kerala 🙂 Try to use small variety of rice for this. Basaltic has a flavour and smell which might change the taste and aroma of the final product. There is absolutely no need of ghee in this recipe. I am just telling you the traditional style. Any modifications can be made as per personal tastes. Usually the raw rice is added to boiling milk and let it cook in that milk. The milk will also reduce in quantity. Once the rice is cooked, you can add sugar. Traditionally there are no flavoring agents added, no dry fruits too. But again, it is all about personal taste. Sorry for the long post!
no problem about the long post karthika. i know about the kerala payasam. ghee is not added and the kerala rice is used. this recipe is the tamil version. thats why ghee is added. in kerala i had rice payasam with the kerala red rice, but flavorings were added in that one. we also had ada pradhaman and all of us liked it. i will try to get ada here and make the payasam. i just want to know what is basaltic? i think its an spelling mistake and you meant some other word. btw basaltic comes from the word basalt which is a type of rock.
Oh my God,that was a typo 😀 Auto corrected.. so sorry!I meant basmati. And sorry I misunderstood it to be kerala payasam 🙂 I thought my post didn’t get uploaded. There was some error while submitting it.
the auto correct typo happens with many readers 🙂 its fine karthika. no problem. i will add the kerala payasam also in some time. sometimes while adding due to slow internet or the website speed, the comment form gives an error. sometimes the comments go in the spam and then i manually unspam all the comments.
I m great fan of ur recipes..I followed always..I want to ask u baking tray size of lg21 ltr convention microwave..plz solve my query.. I m totally beginner in baking…baking tips plz
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thanks a lot. i am not sure what will be the baking tray size of a lg 21 convection microwave oven. what i do for my OTG is that i measure the dimensions inside with a measuring tape and while buying i check the dimensions of the tray or pan. then i buy. what baking tips you are looking for?
1 Can we add milk maid in the recipe , Dassana ji .
2 Do we have to strain or keep rice some time in water ?
Thanks alot
Sorry for bothering.
no issues. yes you can add milkmaid. but then do not add sugar. you can add about 1/3 cup of milkmaid. no need to soak the rice in water. but for a quick cooking, you can soak the rice for about 20 to 30 minutes. then drain them well and dry them in a kitchen towel. also if you want you can rinse the rice and then dry them in a kitchen towel, before sauteing in ghee.