MULAYARI PAYASAM
A SWEET, DELICIOUS, BEWITCHING BAMBOO RICE PAYASAM
Introduction:
In the wild, bamboo clumps burst into
bloom once in a dozen years or a few decades. Once a clump starts the flowering
process, it spreads like a chain reaction across the whole forest, often
culminating in the drying up of all the bamboo clumps, but not before they
leave us with their wonderful gift of bamboo rice.
This grain, the size of rice grains,
but having the colour and texture of wheat is perhaps the hardest of cereals
and is believed to possess medicinal properties which can boost health and induce
rejuvenation. The blooms soon fade to give way to tons of bamboo rice, a tiny
fraction of which germinates to bring forth new bamboo colonies.
Much of the
grain is devoured by rodents and other forest critters, a good portion washed
away by the rains and a small part collected by the tribal population. The
ground beneath the clumps is swept clean and the ripe, dry grains strewn
therein are swept together daily. The grit and chaff are removed and the grain
brought to the market where it fetches a good price.
My mother
used to make mulayari payasam at home when I was quite young. Neither my
brothers, nor I would care to touch it for the grains were so hard to chew even
after hours of cooking. It was decades later that I came to know of the
technique of making superbly delicious mulayari payasam.
Last year, one
of my husband’s friends had come here, wishing to visit the famous Tirunelli
temple. The millenniums old temple nestles on top of a hill with the
breathtaking view of the majestic, forest-clad Western Ghats (Brahmagiri and Nilgiri
mountains) where an ancient stone aqueduct brings fresh, cool mountain water
into the temple.
My husband
took his friend to the temple. Behind the temple is a hotel and a curio shop run
by the son of the temple priest. There, they had a couple of glasses of
mulayari payasam. The payasam turned out to be delicious and my husband
purchased a packet of fresh bamboo rice.
The shop
owner was kind enough to share with him the technique of making this wonderful
payasam. I soon made mulayari payasam at home and from my husband’s expression
as he sipped it, I saw that the payasam had indeed far exceeded his
expectations. Since then, I have cooked mulayari payasam several times, making
subtle adjustments here and there, the result each time improving upon the
previous one.
I joyously
share with you my finest recipe for this gem among payasams. Do cook and enjoy!
Ingredients (to make
1.5 litres of payasam):
1) Bamboo rice
(cleaned, washed and sun-dried) – 200 gm. (see note)
2) Grated
coconut – 645 gm. (from two large coconuts)
3) Coconut
kernel – 15 gm.
4) Cashew nuts
– 10 gm.
5) Kismis
(sultanas or seedless raisins) – 10 gm.
6) Jaggery
(unrefined cane sugar) – 350 gm.
7) Cardamom
pods – 6 Nos.
8) Ghee – 2
teaspoons
9) Water –
1525 ml.
To prepare:
Put all the
bamboo rice into the dry-grind jar of your food processor. Grind it on low
speed (the first notch) for 4 seconds. Stir and repeat twice more (a total of
12 seconds). Take care not to exceed the time as you need plenty of broken rice
for getting the right texture (see picture).
Put the grated
coconut into a food processor. Measure out and set aside 1500 ml. of water. Grind
the coconut to fine paste in 2 or 3 batches using as much of the measured water
as may be necessary. Pour the paste into a stainless sieve set atop a fitting vessel.
Squeeze out the thick coconut milk and set aside.
Soak the
pomace (coconut solids) once or twice more in the remaining water, knead well, sieve
out the thin coconut milk and set aside separately.
Put the broken bamboo rice together
with the thin coconut milk into a pressure cooker. Set on high heat. As soon as
you hear the first whistle, lower the heat and cook slowly for 5 minutes. Now
switch off the heat. By the time the cooker depressurizes normally, the bamboo
rice should cook to perfection.
In the meantime, put the jaggery together
with 25 ml. of water into a pan. Set it on low heat. Stir occasionally till the
jaggery melts fully. Sieve and set aside.
Peel the cardamom pods and crush
the seeds to powder. Chop the kismis and the cashew nuts separately to fine
bits and set aside. Chop the coconut kernel too likewise and set aside.
Put the contents of the pressure
cooker together with the melted jaggery into your payasam vessel (use a thick
bottomed vessel or pan if possible). Set on high heat and stir frequently. As
soon as it comes to a boil, turn down the heat and let cook for 5 minutes so
that the bamboo rice sweetens as it absorbs the jaggery.
Now turn up
the heat and pour in the thick coconut milk. Stir continuously as you do not
want the payasam to burn at the base. As soon as it starts boiling nicely, tip
in the cardamom powder and switch off the heat.
Set a skillet
or small pan on low heat. Pour in the ghee and tip in the coconut bits. Stir
continuously till the coconut turns a light brown in colour. Now throw in the cashew
bits and stir till the cashew turns the same colour. Tip in the kismis bits,
stir once and switch off the heat.
Pour the sizzling contents into the
payasam, stir and cover with a lid. Your supremely delicious mulayari payasam is
now ready to enjoy. Serve hot.
As you drink the payasam and munch
on the delicious bamboo grains, the fried coconut pieces and the cashew bits,
you are in heaven!
Bon appétit!
Tip:
Peanut lovers try garnishing mulayari
payasam with a handful of skinned, fried peanuts (ground nuts) and enjoy!
Note:
Please do not confuse original reddish
brown bamboo rice with the green (paddy grown white rice soaked in bamboo juice
and dried) rice sold in markets under the false name of bamboo rice.
