Sago Pearls And Sweet Potato Payasam.

Sabudana Ani Kananga Godshe / Sago Pearls And Sweet Potato Payasam ....... A sweet dish prepared with jaggery and coconut milk ....... Yumz .......

This one is a rare combo sweet delicacy that just about bounced up in my mind. A lovely dessert sure to be loved by everybody’s family …. Young, old and the kiddos all will love this one for sure as it has a lovely aroma and tastes simply awesome. Sabudana though is a starchy ingredient always is a pleasure to have in whichever dish it is added to, be it khichidi, vada, thalipeeth or payasam. In fact I have already posted sabudana churmundo earlier too. Sweet potato also contains starch but is very good for health and has lots of health benefits of its own.

Today I neither wanted to eat sabudana khichidi nor sweet potato bhaji. But being a auspicious day and a fasting day at that I had to prepare something with them, the only available ingredients at the moment. Ashadi ekadashi is something almost all hindus observe by keeping a fast on the day. Only certain dishes are consumed while rice, rice products and pulses are abstained from. 

It had been a long time since I had prepared some payasam and somehow I was in a mood of having the same. Both sabudana and sweet potato payasams are prepared but separately. So I just thought why not combine and use them as a single payasam. I am so glad this combo came about in my mind, coz. I am sure to do this many more times as my family simply loved this dish. So go ahead and prepare the same and enjoy with your family its really simple to make at the same time a delicious one.

Soak 1 cup of sabudana in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. Now if the sabudana has swelled fully and soaked in all water add ½ cup of water or else just put it on heat and cook till the sabudana pearls look transparent. Keep stirring or else it will get burnt at the bottom. Also once it come to boil lower the heat and cook till done. Once done it will thicken and increase in size and also get a mirror glaze. Remove and keep it aside.

Meanwhile peel of the skin of 500-600 gms of sweet potato and cut them into cubes and rinse them well. Put them in a thick bottomed vessel and add in 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook the sweet potato till 75% done. 

Now add in grated 200-250 gms of jaggery. Plus or minus depending upon how sweet you want the payasam to be. Once the jaggery melts add in the cooked sabudana and mix well and bring to a boil. Add in water if necessary or you find the payasam a little bit too dry. 

Once the sabudana and sweet potatoes comes to boil add in 200 ml of coconut milk (I used ready made one’s available in the market) and mix well. Bring all to a boil and remove immediately from fire. Add in ½ tsp of cardamom powder and mix well. Serve hot or cold in glasses as per your liking. If you find the payasam has thickened a lot after a few hours, you can always add in a cup or two of hot water and mix well. The taste or the texture will not differ. If you find that you need more jaggery later on just boil the water with jaggery till it melts and mixes well and then add in the same.