Happy Vishu and Kurikkina Kalyana Pal Payasam

Happy Vishu to all of you! I am not a very pudding/kheer/payasam person. But this makes me drool. It Can be served cold or hot....I love it in normal room temperature. Yummy! Takes around two hrs to make but it worth the time and effort.

Ingredients:-
1 ltr whole milk
1/2 cup rice soaked for an hour in warm water
4 tbl spns of sweet condensed milk
1/3 cup of jaggery powder
sugar (According to taste, I didn't use it as I don't like it too sweet)
1/4 tsp of cardamom powder
1 tsp of ghee
1 tbl spn of broken cashews

Method:-
Heat the 1 ltr of milk in a heavy bottom vessel. The milk should be only 1/3 of the full capacity of the vessel used or else it will tend to boil over.
Heat the milk in medium heat with jaggery powder.
After about 1 hr you will see the milk getting thick and its color changing.
Pulse the rice in the blender so that the rice breaks. Do not make a paste.
Add the rice to the milk and stir continuous is low heat for about half hr.
The heat should be at low or else the bottom will tend to burn.
Add the condensed milk, cardamom powder and slow cook for another 20 mins. Stir frequently.
In a small pan heat ghee and fry the cashews to golden brown.
Add the ghee and cashews to the milk mixture and take it off the heat.
Serve hot or cold.