Almonds Dates Payasam / Badam Khajoor Kheer

Payasams are so much versatile and they bring festive delights and celebrations when made.. I made this payasam from here and we all loved it. Payasams and sweets are every kid's love (yeah though most kids prefer Pizza and Pasta now a days) and am happy to share this in this month's BM for Kid's delight. You can adjust the amount of sugar and dates according to preference. You can also use regular white sugar or light brown sugar if you cannot find the cane sugar or the nattu sakkarai.




Ingredients
Almonds - 3/4 cup
Dates - 1/2 cup (pitted and chopped)
Cane Sugar / Nattu Sakkarai - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Saffron - a few strands
Cashew / Pista - For Garnish
Ghee - 2 tea spoons
Nutmeg - A pinch
Method
Peel the almonds skin and grind it to a smooth paste along with dates and about 1 cup of water.
Shallow fry cashews in ghee until golden and set aside
In the same ghee, add the almond paste and cook on a very slow flame and bring it to a boil. It is preferred to stir it continuously to avoid burning
Heat milk to lukewarm and add the saffron strands and set aside
When the payasam starts to boil, add the saffron soaked milk, sugar and cook on low heat until the sugar is well dissolved.
Remove from heat and add the cardamom powder, few grates of nutmeg and garnish with golden cashews and pista and serve warm or cold!!!


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 24
Sending this to my own event – Anniversary event, Kids delight, valli's page, Foodabulous, WTML, New U, Makar Sankranti, Know your Dairy, Jagruti’s page, Siri’s Anniversary Event