Friday, January 5, 2018

Vermicilli Pudding



Seviyan payasam (Vermicelli Pudding) is a simple and delicious dessert made with milk and roasted vermicelli, cooked together with aromatic spices to a custard like consistency. Made specially during festivals and special occasions, seviyan pudding is a must make dish for Eid. Served it hot or cold.

Vermicilli is a thin spaghetti like pasta made from either whole wheat flour, semolina flour, rice flour or all purpose flour. It can vary from very fine to thick. Usually I use the fine whole wheat variety as it is the fastest to cook. But you can try any of them. Just adjust the cooking time and amount of liquid.  Pre roasted fine vermicelli is also available in stores. If you happen to buy that then you can skip the first step.
A vegan variation of this pudding is where you leave out the milk and cook the vermicelli in sugar syrup. The dish comes out all caramelized and butterscotchyy and yum. I recommend using the thicker vermicelli for this variation as it will absorb more liquid and caramelize better.

Starting off the new year on a sweet note.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
2 tsp clarified butter(ghee)/oil
1 1/4 cup fine vermicelli, broken
2 cups whole milk
3-4 green cardamom pods, crushed
pinch saffron, in 2 tsp of warm milk or water (optional)
Sugar to taste
Handful chopped mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios, raisins)
  1. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and lightly fry the vermicelli till golden. Omit this step if you have purchased pre roasted vermicelli. 
  2. Pour milk and bring it to a gentle boil. Add the saffron concoction and stir. 
  3. Simmer for -10  minutes, stirring often till the vermicelli cooks thru and the pudding thickens a bit. 
  4. Add sugar and mix well till it dissolves. 
  5. Remove from heat and flavor the pudding with cardamom powder. Mix half the chopped nuts.
  6. Use the remaining nuts as garnish on top. 
  7. Serve hot or cold. 
  8. As it cools down, the pudding tends to thicken. So add more milk before serving. Alternatively add more milk while cooking and don't thicken the dish too much.


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