Venna Payasam (Butter Paysam)

   Venna Payasam, or Butter Payasam as I call this dish😊  is   my Amma's (mother's) recipe. She has the magic of making super tasty dishes in no time with minimal ingredients. I know we all might be having at least one or many dishes made  by our mother that  holds a special place in our heart. This is one such recipe for me and I have a lot of good memories associated with it.Unlike the normal payasams which uses ghee as one of the ingredient, this recipe uses butter which adds the real taste to this payasam. Unakkalari or Payasam rice is cooked with water and mixed with jaggery syrup, ripe banana (kadalipazham or njalipoovan pazham), butter, black sesame seeds, grated coconut. The key ingredients which adds taste to this payasam are "butter" and "kadalipazham" (which  are considered as Lord Krishna's favorites). Also adding butter in two stages is also a secret for the real taste of this recipe. If kadalipazham is not available you can use njalipoovan pazham which is also equally good. I have also tried with other banana but for me no other banana tastes perfect for this recipe .

 Ingredients

• Unakkalari / Payasam Rice - 3/4 cup
• Water - 7-8 cups
• Jaggery syrup - 1 cup
• Kadali pazham / Njalipoovan pazham  - 2
• Butter - 4tbsp
• Ellu /Black Sesame Seeds -  3 tbsp
• Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup

Method

1. Wash and clean the rice.
2. Put rice in a preferably in an uruli. Add water and cook till rice is done.( for easy method you can use a pressure cooker for cooking the rice)
3. When rice is cooked and add melted jaggery syrup and mix till the jaggery syrup is coated in the rice (about 5  mints )
4. Add 2 tbsp butter at this stage.
5. Add  sesame seeds, sliced banana , grated coconut and mix well.
6. Add the remaining 2 tbsp butter at the finishing stage .
7. Serve warm .

Notes

1. You can increase or decrease the amount of jaggery syrup according to your taste.
2. Kadalipazham and njalipoovan pazham works best for this recipe.
3. Adding more quantity of butter enhances the taste.
4. If you find the payasam is getting thick you can add boiling water after cooking the rice.