Banana Pidi Payasam
- Serves: 4
One of the unique traits of the Syrian Christian cooking is the use of coconut milk and rice flour to make something called “PIDI” or rice dumplings. During one of our exploratory tours searching unique and fun recipes, this was one that stood out for me. The possibilities that can be explored in this, the simplicity, are many, but the time and love that you need to put in to getting this recipe perfect are also what grandmothers are famous for.
Here is a recipe by one such grandmother for her granddaughter who decided she will take the road less traveled to become a chef .This is a recipe by grandmother(amumma)”Prema” for her granddaughter ”Rishitha”
Ingredients
To make the Rice Pidi’s or (dumplings)
- Rice flour -1/2 cup
- Boiling water-1/2 cup
- Salt-1/2 tsp
- Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
To make the payasam
- Coconut milk
– 1st extracted -1 cup
– 2nd extracted -1 cup - Water – 1 cup
- Banana (nendaran) chopped -1 cup
- Cardamom powder-1 tsp
- Sugar-1 cup
- Rice flour (fine)-1 tbsp
Method
- Make the dough using rice flour, boiling water, salt and coconut oil .
- In case if you have any doubt about making dough, check my Coconut and banaa ada recipe , where I have mentioned the method to make dough.
- Make the small rice pidi’s or dumplings (in small button shape) using the rice dough.
- Keep the cooking vessel on medium heat and add the 2nd extracted coconut milk and add water to it.
- Let it boil.
- Now add the rice pidi’s or dumplings in to it and mix gently, let it boil for 10 minutes.
- Add chopped banana (nendaran) and mix it well.
- Once the rice pidi’s or dumplings and bananas are cooked, add sugar and mix well, let it boil.
- Make slurry using fine rice flour and water.
- Reduce the flame to sim and add the slurry to thicken the payasam, make sure to keep on mixing otherwise it would stick to the bottom of the vessel.
- Once thickened, pour the 1st extracted coconut milk and add cardamom powder.
- Serve it in a bowl hot or chilled.
Pro’s tip: - Can add (1/2 cup) of boiled channa dal to make it even tastier.
- To make the rice pidi’s sweeter add 1 tbsp of sugar to the mix while making dough.
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