Broken (Cracked) Wheat Payasam / Pradhaman / Kheer

Directions

1. In a blender, add 1 cup of shredded coconut and ½ cup of water and grind it well.
2. Then using a sieve, pour the coconut mixture.
3. Hand squeeze the coconut to extract the thick coconut milk and keep it aside.
4. Using the same coconut, add 1 cup of water and again squeeze the coconut to extract the medium thick coconut milk and keep it aside.
5. Take a deep bottomed pan, add jaggery and  ½ cup of water.
6. Boil it till it melts completely, and allows it to boil till it thickens slightly (like honey’s consistency).
7. Then using a sieve, strain the jaggery syrup to remove impurities, if any (at all).
8. In a pan, heat ghee and roast cashew nuts until they become golden and then transfer to a plate.
9. In the same ghee, add the raisins and sauté it till it puffs up. Transfer it to the same plate where we saved the roasted cashews.
10. Again in the same ghee(if needed add 1 tsp extra ghee to avoid sticking). Then roast the coconut slices until it turns golden brown and transfer it to the plate with cashew and raisins and keep it aside.
11. In a deep bottomed pan, add broken wheat and add 3½ cups water. Allow it to boil for 10 – 15 minutes.
12. Strain it through a sieve to drain the water (shake the sieve to drain the water completely) and keep it aside for 5 minutes.
13. In the same pan, add ghee. Once it melts completely, add the drained broken wheat and stir it for a minute.
14. Add the jaggery syrup, and mix it well. Then allow it to cook for one minute by stirring it continuously.
15. Add the medium thick coconut milk, cardamom powder, dry ginger powder and mix it well. Then allow it to boil.
16. Add the thick coconut milk and mix it well.
17.  Then allow it to boil for 1 minute and switch off the flame.
18. Add the roasted cashew nuts, raisins, and coconut slices, and mix them all well.

Broken (Cracked) Wheat Payasam / Pradhaman / Kheer is now ready to serve!

Notes

1. You can substitute coconut milk with fresh milk.
2. You can cook the cracked/ broken wheat in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles. Please make sure that that it doesn’t get mushy due to overcooking.
3. You can use 1 cup sugar instead of jaggery.
4. If you want to make the payasam thin, add extra water or milk.
5. You can make coconut milk from fresh coconut as shown above or use coconut milk powder or canned coconut milk.
6. If using coconut milk powder, then the  proportion is

(a) Thick coconut milk: 1/4 cup water + 1 tbsp coconut milk powder

(b) Thin coconut milk: 1 cup water + 2 tbsp coconut milk powder