In fond memory of Daddy – Appekaradahakkidda Payasa

Dear friends.

Please accept my sincere thanks for all the prayers that you sent for my FIL and for extending all your support to this blog in my absence. This is my first post after Daddy  passed away so I thought of sharing something which he was extremely fond of and was one of his favorites. This preparation is dedicated to Daddy with a sincere prayer for his journey in the other world.

‘Appe’ means a kind of crisp poori, ‘karad’ means fried and ‘hakkidda’ means to put in and ‘Payasa’ means Kheer in Kannada, so together it means fried poori put in a kheer. This is a traditional Kannadiga preparation and is made on all occasions. I tasted this first time after marriage when Mummy made this for her group of kitty friends and I realized then that it was Daddy’s all time favorite and Mummy would make this affectionately for Daddy on his birthday and all religious functions. I loved it the very first time I tasted it and became my favorite too but for some strange reason I always had it when I went to our home town and never attempted making this at home.

After coming back  I was in no mood to cook elaborately for a few days, eventually  when I thought of posting something in remembrance of dear FIL, I could not think of any other preparation but this Payasa/ Kheer. I was initially hesitant to ask my MIL for the recipe so I called up my elder co- sister for the recipe and she advised me to use APF and wheat flour to make the Appe. But somewhere I thought Mummy did not make that way and after trying to recall the recipe, I had a feeling that Mummy had mentioned semolina to me once, so I called up MIL and confirmed the recipe. So here’s Daddy’s favorite payasa..

Ingredients

1/2 cup APF

1/4 cup semolina

1 tsp clarified butter for shortening

3/4 liter milk

a pinch of saffron

a few fried cashewnuts and raisins

5-6 cardamoms crushed

a pinch of nutmeg grated

a pinch of saffron

1/2 Cup sugar

Method

Mix the APF and Semolina with the clarified butter and knead a tight dough using water. Let the dough rest for half an hour.

Take small dumplings of the dough and roll it thin and cut into strips.

Deep fry the strips on a medium flame till crisp.

Remove the fried strips (Appe) on a kitchen towel and let it cool and then crush them coarsely.

   

Boil the milk, add sugar and let it reduce for about 5 mins and then add the crushed Appe, cook for about 2 mins.

Cool and add cardamom powder, soaked saffron , nutmeg powder and fried cashewnuts and raisins. One can serve it warm but I love eating this after it is chilled. This preparation thickens a lot on cooling so one can add more milk later to make it thin.

Please start sending your entries to Flavours Of Punjab Event. I will be able to accept your entries now.The event ends Nov 30th.
Sending this Payasa to Ayeesha and Nivedita’s

to My event ‘Only’- Festive Food guest hosted by Preeti.Sending the recipe to my event ‘ONLY’ Traditional Recipes Guest hosted by Jiya's Delicacy