semiya payasam | kheer - no condensed milk

Pour the 7 cups of milk into a large non-stick vessel and heat on a medium flame. Keep stirring occasionally to make sure that the milk does not burn at the base.

Crack the cardamom pods on one side and then add them to the milk. Keep stirring the milk till it comes to a boil

In the mean time, heat ghee in a pan on a medium heat and once its warm, add the 2 cups of vermicelli to the pan. Keep stirring to coat the vermicelli well with the ghee and turn off the heat before it starts to turn light brown. Remove the vermicelli from the pan and keep aside.

Once the milk starts boiling, lower the heat a little and keep stirring occasionally till the milk quantity reduces by around 20%.

Once the milk quantity has reduced by 20%, add the 3.4 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt to the milk and mix well. Make sure to add very little salt. This is just to balance the sweet flavor.

Taste the milk to check if it has the desired sweetness and add more sugar if needed. At this point, I usually remove the cardamom pods so that we don't accidentally bite into it while eating the payasam. You can leave the cardamom pods in the milk if it does not bother you.

Now add the roasted vermicelli into the milk mixture and continue to cook on a low-medium flame. Keep stirring to avoid the milk from sticking to the bottom.

After around 10 - 15 mins, the vermicelli will be cooked well and the milk mixture will still be a little more watery that the ideal desired consistency. At this point you can turn off the heat. The payasam/kheer will automatically thicken up in the next 2 hours as the vermicelli will continue to absorb more milk and become thicker. If you continue to cook till it reaches the desired consistency then the payasam will become very thick and cake like when it cools down.

Now heat some ghee in a small pan and add the cashew pieces. Roast till the cashew turn light golden brown and then add the cashew pieces into the payasam/kheer.

After 2 hours the payasam will reach the desired thickness and you can serve it as is or transfer to the refrigerator if you like to serve it cold.