Sweet Rice Pudding (Arisi Paayasam)

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of rice
2. 1 cup of milk
3. 1 cup of water
4. ½ - ¾ cup of sugar
5. ½ tsp of Kesar (kumkumapoo)
6. pinch of Elaichi powder
7. 1 tbsp Cashew
8. 1 tbsp raisins
9. 3 tbsp ghee

Preparation:

• Cook rice with the milk and water in a cooker and make it nicely mashed
• Remove and heat the mixture in a pan on the stove and add the sugar (add ½ in case less sweetness is preferred or ¾ for more)
• Boil the mixture till it becomes thick
• Remove and add the kesar and elaichi powder
• The mixture after cooking should be in a thick, liquid form
• On another small pan, fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and add to the prepared mixture

Arisi paayasam is served.

This is one of our revered recipes because it is easy on the stomach and so is used on a lot of festival days. Due to the ease of preparation, whenever a small event of significance happens, it is quite common to find this being prepared. Other preparations include a lentil pudding, or this same rice pudding with coconut.