Pancha Madhura Payasam (5-Sweet Payasam)

For natives of Thiruvananthapuram district, Pancha Madhura Payasam is quite familiar. There is one popular belief related to natives of Thiruvananthapuram city. Long ago sugarcane farming was common in Attukal and its premises. When Madhurai Meenakshi Amma came here very tired and hungry, natives of Attukal village decided to treat her with a simple and quick payasam. They chose easy ingredients available at home, prepared the payasam and served the goddess.

When it’s prepared in traditional urli, it’s transferred to banana leaves. When it cools, it can be cut into pieces. As it includes both jaggery and milk as ingredients, it owns a distinct taste, different milk payasams or jaggery pradhamans. For the same reason you won’t get easily bored with its taste. But it is high in sweet content. You may reduce the amount of jaggery or sugar if you are health conscious. Otherwise follow this recipe to taste the trademark Pancha Madhura Payasam. It’s very easy to prepare as it doesn’t need melted jaggery or coconut milk.

Ingredients for Pancha Madhura Payasam (5-Sweet Payasam):

1. Payasam rice (Chemba Pachari) – ¼ kg

2. Milk – ½ litre

3. Jaggery – ¼ kg

4. Sugar – ¼ kg

5. Coconut – ½, scrapped

6. Cashew nut – A handful

    Raisins – A handful

    Sugar candy (Kalkkandam) cut into small pieces – 3 big spoons

7. Ghee – 2 big spoons

    Honey – 1 big spoon

8. Cardamom – 5, powdered

    Small banana (Palayankodan) – 3, chopped into thin round pieces

How to prepare Pancha Madhura Payasam (5-Sweet Payasam)?

1. Wash rice and cook it adding sufficient water.

2. When rice is 3/4^th cooked, add milk and boil well.

3. Add powdered jaggery to it, followed by sugar.

4. Add scrapped coconut, cashews, raisins and sugar candy.

5. Add ghee and honey and mix it well.

6. Add cardamom powder and chopped banana pieces.

7. When it boils and payasam thickens, put the flame off.

Courtesy: Vanitha Magazine April 1-14, 2019

Also read a few more payasam and pradhaman recipes. Here is the page link. Click on the images in the gallery to read.