Shavige Payasa (Vermicelli Kheer)

We visited a beautiful island during this long weekend & we enjoyed each & every minute spent there. My son was happy to the fullest because we allowed him to play in the beach three times a day. That was an awesome trip. Now we are just recovering from the jet lag !!!

Today is Souramana Ugadi (New Year) & my in-laws celebrate this as new year (Mostly all Kannadigas follow Chandramana Ugadi, only few people from Karnataka follow Souramana Ugadi). I had big plans for the new year. But, my son is having little fever and I am bit concerned about him.He is recovering fast but I am not in a mood to celebrate :(

Anyways, you can not control everything that is happening with you and my mom has taught me that, whatever be the situation, you should never forget to celebrate festivals at home. Me, keeping all those in mind decided to prepare something simple to celebrate the festival. The first thing that came to my mind when I think of very simple sweet dish was "Shavige Payasa". Hence, prepared the same.

Here is the photo & recipe for you.


Ingredients:
Vermicelli/Shavige (MTR or Bambino would do) : 1 cup
Milk : 3 cups
Sugar : 3/4 cup
Cardamom Powder : 1/4 tsp
Cashew nuts : 1 tbsp
Raisins : 1tbsp
Ghee : 1tbsp
Saffron strands : 4-6 strands

Method:

• Add 1 tsp of ghee to a pan & roast the vermicelli until it turns golden brown.
• Heat milk in a pot, when milk starts boiling add the roasted vermicelli & sugar. Cook the vermicelli until it becomes soft. Switch off the flame. Add cardamom powder & saffron strands.
• Meantime, fry the cashew nuts & raisins in the remaining ghee.
• Pour the fried dry fruits (along with ghee) to the prepared kheer.
• Serve the kheer hot, warm or cold.

PS :
Kheer starts to thicken as it starts getting warm & becomes very thick at room temperature. So, add sugar dissolved milk, stir well & then serve. Alternatively, one could keep the steaming hot kheer in refrigerator to avoid thickening of kheer.