Carrot Semiya Payasam | Carrot Kheer | Gajjar Kheer

The past weekend was super busy for me, had too much work in the kitchen you know why cos I had some lovely friends visiting us. And planning the starter and main course was not a hassle but the dessert was I was initially thinking of making gulab jamuns from scratch and then shifted to caramel custard and later ended up doing one of my favorite payasam recipe ~ Carrot Payasam, its truly different from the usual Pal Payasam or Milk Payasam. 

Made with the goodness of carrots, the best part of the payasam is that you need not add much sugar as the carrots take over with the natural sweetness, thickening of the milk is essential for a creamy and smooth texture. Adding Semiya is totally upto you, you can even add sago/ javvarisi if thats your liking. I did not even use a drop of color since I added more carrots and less milk the payasam got the natural color from the carrots

Verdict ~ My friends loved it so much and asked me for the recipe :-) so here's to them and all my lovely followers

Cook & Prep time ~ 30 mins
Serves ~ 6

Ingredients

Carrots - 10-12 small-medium size
Milk - 2 cups ( i used semi-skimmed)
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Condensed milk - 3 tbsp (optional)
Vermicelli/ fine semiya (roasted) - 1/4 cup
Cashew - 10 split
Raisins - 10
Ghee - 1 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Method

• In a pressure cooker add 1 cup water and bring it to boil, in the mean time wash the carrots cut the ends and pat dry. Cut the carrots in two and add to the pressure cooker, cover the lid and add the whistle. Let it pressure cook for 3 whistles, switch off and let the pressure gradually release. 
• Cool down and transfer the carrots to a mixie jar/ food processor and blend it to a smooth paste. No need to add any water, set aside
• In a milk pan add the milk and bring it to a boil and simmer, let it reduce to half the quantity, when nice and thick add the carrot puree, let it cook for another 10 minutes until nice and thick, now add the vermicelli and sugar and cook for 7 more mins. 
• To this add the condensed milk and cardamom powder, check for sweetness.
• Now fry the cashew and raisins in ghee until golden brown and raisins puff up, garnish payasam with the nuts and raisins.

Cooks Wisdom 

- Do not add more sugar as the carrots have a natural sweetness

- If using full fat milk omit condensed milk

- You can even add saffron strands for extra flavor

- Instead of vermicelli/ semiya you can also use sago, click here to check how to cook sago

- I used slim variety of carrots, incase you are using thick ones make sure you cut them into big chunks before pressure cooking it

Serve hot or cold as a dessert :-) yummm