Oats payasam(Oats Kheer)

 

Most of the weekends are a feast day for us when I prepare typical Kerala cuisines coupled with something sweet to cater my family's sweet tooth and if I don't make something sweetish for some reasons then hubby would buy something from the shop to sooth their urge or else H and kids start looking for Jaggery or anything sweet in the kitchen.

 And that's why this Sunday I thought to prepare "Oats payasam/Kheer". I tried it for the first time and believe me it came out so well that we all felt the quantity was not enough and yearned for more.

 

 

Its such a good , easy to make and of course sweet way to include oats, in your diet once in a while. I am sure all those who don't find the taste of oats would find it surprisingly tasty in this form. 

 

Preparation time :  15-20 mins

Serves                 :  3-4             

 

Ingredients                                       Quantity                                                     

 

Rolled oats                                            : 1 Cup
Palm Jaggery                                       :  150 gms
Coconut bits                                         : 3-4 tsp
Thick coconut milk                             :  1/2 cup(First extract)
Medium thick coconut milk              : 2 cups(Second extract)
Crushed cardamom(elaichi)             : 2 -3
Cashew nuts                                         : 1 tbsp
Raisins                                                   : 1 tbsp
Ghee                                                       : 2 tsp

Preparation Method:                                                                                         

• Heat ghee in a pan and fry the coconut bits, let them turn slightly brown, then add cashew nuts and raisin. Fry till nuts try light brown in colour, strain everything and keep aside.
• Now in the same ghee, toast the oats for 6-7 minutes until they turn slightly brown. Remove from flame.
• In a wide pan, melt Jaggery by adding 1/2 cup of water by stirring in between. Strain the melted Jaggery.
• Add roasted oats to the strained Jaggery and cook till the oats gets properly cooked. it should not take more than 5 mins or u can even cook till Jaggery gets half dried up.
• Lower the flame and add medium thick coconut milk and bring to boil by stirring in between.
• Now add crushed cardamom powder and stir well. Cook for another 2 mins. Add thick coconut milk and mix well. Remove from flame. No need to cook after adding thick milk.
• Pour the fried coconut pieces, cashew and raisins.

Serve hot or chilled. It's tastes yummy both ways.

Tips:                                                                                                                               

• Instead of Jaggery you can use sugar  and milk to prepare 'Oats payasam/kheer'. But with Jaggery one should avoid using cow's milk as it may curdle on boiling. So try to use coconut milk.
• One can even use ready made coconut milk also if you find extracting coconut milk a tedious job.
• The colour and sweetness of Jaggery varies . I have used palm Jaggery to prepare the same and hence I needed only 150 gms for 1 cup of oats as its very sweet in taste . Please adjust the quantity as per your tastes and the type of Jaggery being used.
• One can add oats directly to the Jaggery syrup without roasting but roasting gives it a unique and enhanced flavour.
• If kept for longer time, it may thicken so you can add cow's milk to dilute it but do not boil or warm it after the addition of cow's milk. 

sending this to
http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/2013/08/sicsouth-indian-cooking.html and http://anuzhealthykitchen.blogspot.in/2012/07/south-indian-kitchen-series-event-1.html