GasaGase Payasa/ Poppy seeds payasam

 Happy Ugadi! May all of you have a blessed year! 

We celebrate Souramana Ugadi and not Chandramana Ugadi. But in our house there is only one way of celebrating, so it doesn’t matter which one we celebrate..  because the only way we celebrate any Hindu festival is prepare special food and then eat. I keep it in front of God, light the lamp, prostrate, that much I do.. 🙏

Coming to the recipe, gasagase payasa is our family favorite. Grinding gasagase is little bit tricky, water should not be added all at once, but little by little for it to grind properly. This is my mother’s recipe, with tips and tricks as she taught me. Enjoy! 

Ingredients(approx)

1 open mushti gasagase (poppy seeds - approximately 1 open palmful)

2-3 tsp Rice  

Elaichi/ Cardamom - 2

CashewNut/ Godambi - 2 pieces 

Shredded Coconut - Almost half bowl(standard cereal bowl)

Jaggery cubes - 6 cubes *See notes

Method

Dry roast gasagase and rice separately. 

Let it cool. Grind without adding any water to powder it. It won’t powder completely - but let it crush as much as possible. Then add little coconut + elachi + cashew nut and little by little water and grind to smooth paste consistency. Now add remaining coconut and grind the whole thing to smooth paste. 

In a pot add water+ jaggery and let it come to a boil.. add ground mixture and reduce the heat to medium and boil in medium flame. You have to mix it often otherwise it can stick to the bottom and burn. 

The whole thing yielded 2 qt payasa - enough for 6 - 8 servings in the serving glass shown in the picture. 

Recipe Source - Shrimathi Vasudeva (amma)

Notes - 

• In the above picture I added 7 cubes - it was more on the sweeter side - may be 6 cubes will suffice.