Exotic Barley Kheer / Payasam

This is my 50-th post in this blog so I wanted to post something unique and of course healthy.

I adapted this recipe from Kaveri (Palakkad Chamayal) and altered it here and there.Thanks to Kaveri for this wonderful treat. The link for the original recipe is http://palakkadcooking.blogspot.com/2011/07/barley-coconut-milk-payasam.html

Now the recipe

Ingredients

• Barley - 1 cup
• Cholesterol free coconut milk - 200 ml (from Departmental Store-look at the picture below to see the cholesterol free tag)

• Powdered Jaggery - 1 1/4 cups
• Ghee - 1 teaspoon (optional)

Method

• Soak barley in water for about 8 hours or over night

• You will notice that barley would have swollen up due to water absorption
• Grind the barley in a mixer without adding water.It will be like a porridge

• Add around 21/2 cups of water to the barley and pressure cook for 4 whistles.Allow the pressure to escape on its own.Do not force and release  (I kept two ladles aside for porridge preparation)

•  Meanwhile mix jaggery with little water say around 1/2 cup (or even less) and dissolve jaggery in water (no need any consistency- so that makes the job simpler)

• Strain the jaggery syrup to remove its impurities.It will be clear

• Add the pressure cooked barley to the jaggery syrup and boil it for 5 minutes in a medium flame.Stir it now and then to avoid burning

• Dilute 100 ml of coconut milk with 100 ml of water and add it to the above mixture.Let it boil in a medium flame for 7 minutes and then simmer it for 3 minutes. The mixture will start thickening

• Switch off the stove and after a minute add the remaining 100 ml of thick coconut milk.Blend it well

• Add ghee on top if needed

Note

• You can also top with cashews and dry grapes fried in ghee