Carrot -Sago Payasam, a Sweet Dish Served As Dessert

Carrot - Sago Payasam is a sweet dish served as dessert. It is very nutritious and tasty, so everybody loves it. The dish is made with carrot paste, sago, coconut milk, cow's milk and sugar as main ingredients. As preparation of ingredients needs time, it may take an hour for cooking this dish.

Please go through the easy to follow step-by-step instructions on how to make the Carrot - Sago Payasam.

Step 1: Ingredients

• About 200 grams of Carrots
• Half a Coconut
• 100 grams of Sago
• 150 grams of Country-made Brown Sugar (You can use normal Sugar also. Adjust the quantity to your own taste)
• 500 ml of Cow's Milk
• Handful of Cashew Nuts
• Handful of Raisins
• 4 to 5 Cardamom pods
• About one inch piece of Dried Ginger

Step 2: Soak Sago in Water

• Sago needs to be soaked in water for about half an hour for proper cooking. Otherwise it may remain raw or take long time and use most of the liquid to cook
• After about half an hour of soaking, wash and drain out the water from sago.

Step 3: Make Carrot Paste

• Peel the carrot skin and cut into pieces
• Transfer the pieces into a mixer grinder and grind them roughly
• Then add about one cup of water and make a fine paste
• Transfer the carrot paste to another container and keep aside

Step 4: Extract Coconut Milk

• Remove the coconut meat from the shell and cut into small pieces
• Transfer the coconut meat into a mixer grinder
• Add one cup of water and grind to a fine paste
• Filter out the coconut milk using a clean cotton cloth or a cheese cloth
• You can repeat the process once again with the remains by adding another cup of water, grinding and extracting the milk
• Now we will be having about 500 ml of thick coconut milk
• Do not extract milk from coconut more than two times
• The remains can be used for making compost or used as chicken feed

Step 5: Make Dry Ginger and Cardamom Powder

• Using a Mortar and pestle or any such equipment, make a fine powder of dried ginger and cardamom pods
• Remove the powder from the mortar and keep aside in a small bowl

Step 6: Roast Raisins and Cashew Nuts in Ghee

• In a small frying pan, add few drops of Ghee and keep it over low flame
• Roast the Raisins and Cashew nuts separately in ghee and keep them aside

Step 7: Preparation Step 1

• Place a medium sized cooking vessel over medium flame and add the cow's milk in it
• When the milk starts boiling, add the soaked Sago to the milk
• Boil till Sago is partially cooked in milk. You can check this by pressing few grains with your fingers

Step 8: Preparation Step 2

• Add the Carrot paste to the vessel and mix well
• Add the Country-made Brown sugar to the pan and stir continuously so that the sugar will not form into lumps

Step 9: Preparation Step 3

• Once the sugar is fully dissolved in the mix, add the coconut milk
• Once the mix starts to boil, add the dry ginger + Cardamom powder and mix well

Step 10: Preparation Step 4

• Now add the roasted cashew nuts and raisins to the Payasam
• Add a pinch of salt and mix well

Our Carrot - Sago Payasam is ready

Step 11: Garnish and Serve

• Transfer the Payasam to a serving pan.
• You can garnish the Payasam with few threads of saffron. I have garnished with thinly peeled strands of carrots and Holy Basil leaves.

The Carrot - Sago Payasam is served as dessert