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Vijayakrishnan, Melbourne is a rare species I had come across among my friends. When my friends (including me) don't even wash the coffee tumblers in which we had our coffee, Vijay is so passionate about cooking. He should have been a chef, but he is now a Software Engineer. I used to tease him "Why you hadn't come into my life before? If you were a girl I would have proposed you".. Ha! Ha! For that he used to say "No use in dreaming about impossible.." and I used to pull his legs saying that "Still it is possible because now in India it has been legalised ;-) ...". Jokes apart, he used to try so many new dishes (sometimes I doubt what he mouths is a dish name or scolding at me) and had started a blog since yesterday to put up the recipes he had tried. Lucky Meera... not all the girls girls get such a chef material as husband at home. Coming back to his recipes, I asked him whether I can use his recipes in my homepage. He has started with an auspicious dish - Rice Dal Pudding (அரிசி கடலை பருப்பு பாயசம்). Hope Vijay takes photographs of his forthcoming dishes while he cooks them and send to us.

Arisi Kadalaiparuppu Payasam (Rice and Channa Daal Payasam)

Ingredients: Rice (அரிசி) - 1 Cup
Channa Daal (கடலை பருப்பு) - 1 Cup
Jaggery (வெல்லம்) - 1 Cup
Milk (பால்) - 1 litre.
Cooking Camphor (பச்சை கற்பூரம்) - A bit more than a pinch.
Cardamom Powder (ஏலக்காய்) - 1 pinch.
Broken Cashews (முந்திரி பருப்பு) - 1/4 cup
Raisins (உலர்ந்த திராட்சை) - 1/4 cup
Tiny bits of coconut (நறுக்கிய தேங்காய்) - 1/4 cup

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Method:
1. Wash rice and channa daal.
2. In a container add one cup of milk and the washed rice and channa daal, cover it with a lid and pressure cook. (Two whistles is enough)
3. Once the pressure is down, open the pressure cooker, and using a ladle, lightly mash the cooked rice and channa daal.
4. Take a heavy bottomed pan / non stick container, pour the remaining milk, add the jaggery (can be added as much as u like, depending on how sweet you want the payasam to be).
5. Reduce the flame a bit and keep stirring the milk.
6. Slowly add the cooked and mashed rice and channa daal combo.
7. Check for the consistency of the payasam. If it is too watery, let it simmer for a while more. (Please note that this payasam can be consumed a bit watery or a bit thick. Depends on how u like it.)
8. Check for the sweetness. Add more jaggery if need to.
9. While this combo is boiling, fry some cashews, coconut pieces and raisins until the cashews and coconut are golden brown and the raisins puffed up.
10. Add this to the boiling payasam, turn off the stove and then add a pinch of cardamom. 10. Add a pinch of powdered cooking camphor and mix it.
11. Can be served hot/warm or refrigerate, cool and serve.

Vijay's Recipe can be accessed at Vijay's Kitchen Corner
{oshits} readers for this recipe..