Seeme Akki Payasa is one of the festival recipes. Tapioca pearls, also known as boba or SeemeAkki Sago, sabbakki, saggubiyyam are produced by passing the moist starch through a sieve under pressure. Pearl tapioca is a common ingredient in Asian desserts and in sweet drinks, where they provide a chewy contrast to the sweetness and texture of the drink. We use this pearls to make delicious dessert – Payasa / Kheer . There are several different ways this payasam can be prepared, I am sharing my mother’s recipe here. She uses the fried pearls to make the payasam.
Since we cook the pearls in milk the taste of the payasa will be heavenly.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup Seeme Akki / sabudana / pearl tapioca
- ¼ cup sugar (or more)
- 1 Tbsp ghee
- 1 Tbsp cashew pieces
- 1 Tbsp raisins
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
- pinch of saffron
- 3 cups of milk
Method:
Watch the video for tips and instruction in kannada!
- Keep the milk for boiling in a thick bottom pan.
- Now heat1 tsp of ghee in a different pan and fry the cashews until it turns golden brown. Then add raisins, and fry it until it puffs up. Keep it aside.
- Keep the pan back on stove, heat the remaining ghee.Once it is hot enough, fry the sabudana (usually it pops like a popcorn).
- Add this to the boiling milk and mix well.
- Add saffron.
- Let it boil for 20 to 25 minutes on a medium low heat. Stir this occasionally to avoid burning at the bottom.
- After 20 minutes, sabudana will become transparent and the consistency will be thick.
- Add sugar and let it boil for 2 to 3 and then turn off the heat.
- Finally add cardamom powder, fried cashews and raisins and mix well.
- Payasam is ready. Enjoy either cold or hot payasam!