Semiya payasam or Vermicelli Kheer: Quick and easy Indian dessert with vermicelli, milk and sugar.

Semiya payasam or vermicelli payasam is a one of the easiest Indian dessert that can be made so quickly at anytime. From my childhood, I have seen my mother making this payasam in each and every occasion like onam, vishu, birthdays etc. Because of its simple cooking method this delicious and aromatic payasam is so popular in Kerala.

Semiya payasam is made with vermicelli, you can buy its roasted broken ones easily in Indian grocery stores. But usually I prefer the whole unroasted ones, as it taste better. Do note that ghee roasting the vermicelli's will improve the aroma and taste of payasam. Still, if you don't get, you can use the roasted broken vermicelli.

The main problem in making vermicelli payasam is that it thickens with time. You might have seen serving thick payasam, that is because of insufficient amount of milk used. Usually people add more milk to loosen the payasam, but it will diminish its taste and flavor. So do use enough milk and stop cooking just before it thickens. I have explained the steps below, do follow and enjoy..

Semiya payasam | Quick and easy Vermicelli payasam Recipe | How to make Semiya payasam at home

Quick and easy dessert with vermicelli, milk and sugar.

Preparation time: 5 minutes | Cooking time: 15 minutes | Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

200 gm vermicelli

1 litre full cream milk

1/2 litre thin milk

8 tablespoons of sugar or more depending on your preference

12 split cashews

3/4 tsp cardamom powder, freshly ground

12 raisins

2 tbsp ghee

How to Make semiya payasam or Vermicelli kheer - Video

Semiya (vermicelli) Payasam Preparation With Step By Step Photos

Take one litre full cream milk in a wide thick bottomed saucepan. Add half cup of sugar and boil over medium high heat. Keep an eye on it and mix in between to avoid burning. Note: Full cream milk is best for this payasam, please don't replace with regular milk.
Once the milk come to a rolling boil, reduce the flame to low and leave it for the next five to ten minutes over low flame till it reduce a bit. Do remember to stir in between and wait till the milk reduce a bit. The milk will get a beautiful creamy consistency through this process.
Meanwhile, heat an urili or a wide and thick bottomed kadai over medium high heat and melt 2 tablespoons of ghee.
Add broken vermicelli into the melted ghee after reducing the flame to low and fry over low heat till it turns crisp. Stir vermicelli often for uniform browning.
Within minutes, the semiya will attain light golden the brown colour and will turn crisp.
Once the vermicelli became light golden and crisp, add 1/2 litre thin milk or room temperature water and continue to cook over medium flame till the vermicelli cooks.
The vermicelli which submerged under milk will now start to float with time. This means, the vermicelli is cooked and turning soft.
Now add remaining sugar so that the cooking of vermicelli is stopped and will get perfectly thick payasam. Note: Make sure, the vermicelli is cooked before you add sugar. The presence of sugar will slow down the cooking process and vermicelli won't cook further.
Wait till the milk evaporates and each grain of vermicelli absorb the essence of milk and sugar completely. At this stage, you can see the bottom of the pan while stirring.
Now add the boiled hot full cream milk. Mix well and wait till it starts to boil.
Add 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder and mix well. Keep cooking over medium flame until you get desired consistency of payasam. This payasam get thickens with time, so switch off the flame just before the desired consistency.
Heat ghee in a small pan and fry cashews till golden. Then add raisins. Raisins will puff immediately. Switch off the flame.
Pour this over the prepared payasam and mix. You can serve this payasam after fifteen minutes. Enjoy.