Dry fruit & nuts semiya Payasam!!! yum yum

Semiya Payasam (Kheer), was all time favorite for me to cook, because it is simple and delicious. I prepare this yummy payasam for my hubby, he is not-so-sweet tooth but loves this payasam. Dry fruits are very healthy as they provide instant energy along with good fats and  proteins. So, I always try to combine dry fruits with almost all the sweet dishes I prepare. We all know that eating sweets is unhealthy, so I substitute 1/4th of the payasam with all the dry fruits that I have and make it little healthy.

I always keep dry fruits handy, you can find them in the candy section of every grocery store. This pack shown below was bought from Sam's club. It costs about $7.00, and it was enough for 6months at least for both of us. It got raisins, almonds, cashew nuts, dry mango, dry banana, dry coconut strips, dry pine apple (one of my favourite) and many more fruits. The only thing that biased me with this pack is that, each fruit is coated with sugar, next time I'll make sure that I'll buy non-sugar coated dry fruits.

Now, coming to the recipe

Ingredients:
Ghee/Butter- 1tbsp
Dry fruits & nuts-1cup (160ml cup)
Thin Semiya (Broken pasta, Italian style)- 1cup
Sugar-3/4 cup or to taste
Milk-3 cups
water-1/2cup
Cardamom powder-1/4tbsp (Freshly ground)

Method:

Heat  ghee in a thick bottom pan under medium flame. Add dry fruits and semiya and roast it till the semiya turns light brown. Add 1/2cup water and 3cups milk. Adding water first will protect the milk from sticking to the pan.  Now, cook this mixture till it comes to a boil and add sugar and mix well. when the sugar is completely dissolved add cardamom powder and turn off the stove. Let it remain for about 5min on the heat from the turn off stove. If you like your payasam thick then add leas milk or substitute 3 cups of milk with 1cup condensed milk + 2cups of regular milk.  Serve hot and enjoy with your family.