Skip to main content

Pazham Pradhaman / Banana Payasam Recipe (Kerala Style)

pazham pradaman for onam

The best thing about Onam is the variety of payasam that are made and I thought I will share my easy Pazham Pradhaman Payasam otherwise known as Banana Payasam, so that you can try this and make and serve along with your Onam Sadya. Banana is locally known as Ethapazham or Nethrapazham and the star in this payasam.

I made this payasam, for my MIL's birthday and it just took under 50 minutes to make the payasam and it tasted so yummy that I had to share it for you. Your, Thiruvona Sadya would be incomplete without this traditional payasam.

The only difficult part is scraping out two whole coconuts for coconut milk, so I did that a day before and refrigerated it. I first thought of making the payasam entirely with ripe banana, but after discussing with amma, I decided to add 1/2 cup of cherupayar parippu and I have to tell you that amma was so right, it tasted so yum that my kids are demanding me to make again for Thiruvonam...yes, you have to try it and its a no excuse payasam as I am showing easy step by step pictures for your understanding.

Note that I used grated coconut for the milk: How to make coconut milk: Put the grated coconut into a blender with 1/4 to 1/2 cup warm water....give it a light blend....mix and squeeze with your hand, then squeeze out into bowl with a sieve and collect the thick milk (1st milk). Again add the required amount of water to the coconut scrapings and then again squeeze and mix and then strain into a bowl, this is the 2nd milk or thin milk.

Incase you are looking for cherupayar parippu payasam, for your sadya please check that out.

Get traditional and make this authentic and traditional and ofcourse healthy dessert of Kerala.

STEP BY STEP PICTURES BELOW:
I used roughly 4 bananas (1/2 kg) and 2 ball jaggery (1/2 kg sharkara), 1/2 cup cherupayar parippu (moon dal lentil), 2 coconut grated, and cahewnuts, kismis (not in pic), cardamon, dry ginger, jeera (not in pic), and a small piece of coconut for thinly slicing and frying.
In the next picture, it is jaggery or sharkara lightly crushed being melted with little water (about 1/4 cup), so that once melted we can strain it....this is to clear of all impurities...but if you get clean jaggery, even powdered jaggery; you can use it as it is and skip this.

I sliced the bananas and blended coarsely....you can mash with a fork too.

Wash and clean the cherupayar parippu and put it in a pressure cooker to cook with little water, about 4 whistles would be fine....also, I do not like the parippu to be cooked and mashed, slightly undercooked parippu will give a nice texture to the payasam...but ofcourse this a personal choice, if you like it to be really cooked and mashed, then go ahead.
Grind crushed dry ginger, jeera, and cardamon in a dry blender finely.
Heat ghee 3 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottom pan (if you have uruli, use it) and add in the mashed bananas. Mix well. Allow it to get cooked for 5 minutes in the ghee on medium to low flame.

Add in the strained jaggery syrup and mix well. In the second picture, you can see banana lumps; it is because I did not grind it to a fine paste as it might make it stick to the pan. But the bananas will get smooth and fine during the making of the payasam.....let it simmer for 15 min and stir in between and see that it does not get sticked to the bottom. (the idea is to allow the water to evaporate, but if you are using powdered and clean jaggery you do not have to mix for long).


Add in the cooked cherupayar parippu into the jaggery-banana mix. Mix well for another 5 minutes.

Add in the 2nd coconut milk or thin milk (randam pal), mix and let it simmer in medium flame for 15 to 20 minutes or until it is reduced and slightly thick.

In the first picture, you can see that the second milk has reduced and become thick. Add in the thick coconut milk or 1 st milk or onnampal. Mix well.


Add in the ground spices, and allow the coconut milk to be boiled (on high flame) and simmer (low flame) for 2-3 minutes.

Sliced and fried coconuts add a bit of crunch to the payasam along with chopped chashewnuts. Heat a tadka pan with 1 tbsp of ghee, add in the coconut first and allow it to brown lightly, then add in cashewnuts, and then rasins (rasins get fried pretty fast).
Pour this over the paysam, mix and close with a lid.

Serve hot! See, making traditional payasam is not that difficult. So I hope you try it.
I hope you enjoy your onam with this yummy and easy payasam.


Print Friendly and PDF

Pazham Pradhaman / Banana Payasam (Kerala Style)


PREP TIME: 15 Mins    |  COOK TIME: 50 Mins    |  SERVES: 5-6

   CUISINE : Kerala     CATEGORY: Indian Dessert, Payasam, Onam
pazham pradhaman

   INGREDIENTS

  • Banana (Ripe): 1/2 kg.
  • Cherupayar Parippu: 1/2 cup.
  • Thick Coconut Milk: 2 1/2 cups (about 1/2 liter).
  • Thin Coconut Milk: 4-5 cups
  • Jaggery (Sharkara): 1/2 kg.
  • Cardamon: 4-5
  • Jeera: 1/2 tsp.
  • Dry Ginger: 1/4 inch piece.
  • Finely Sliced Coconut Pieces: 3 tbsp.
  • Cashewnuts: 2 tbsp, broken.
  • Kismis (Raisins): 2 tbsp.
  • Ghee: 3 tbsp plus 1 tbsp for tempering.


  METHOD:

  1. Blend the bananas in a blender or mixie. You can mash with fork too. Melt jaggery with little water (about 1/4 cup), when cooled strain and keep aside.
  2. Heat a large heavy bottom pan with ghee, add in the mashed bananas. Mix well, and let it cook for 5 min. Add in the melted jaggery and mix into the bananas and simmer for 15 minutes.
  3. While it is simmering, put the cleaned dal (cherupayar parippu) into a pressure cook and cook for 3-4 whistles, keep aside. Grind cardamon, dry ginger, and jeera; keep aside.
  4. Add the cooked dal (cherupayar parippu into the banana-jaggery and mix well. Simmer and mix for 5 minutes.
  5. Add in the thin coconut milk and mix everything together and allow it to boil. Once it starts to boil put the flame in medium or low flame and allow it to simmer until it becomes thick (about 15-20 minutes.
  6. Add in the thick coconut milk, and the ground spices. When about to boil, simmer for 2-3 minutes.
  7. Heat a tadka pan with 1 tbsp ghee and add in thinly sliced coconut; once it starts to brown add in cashewnuts, and then lastly kismis.
  8. Pour this over the payasam, mix well and serve.

NOTES

  • I used 200 ml cup for measuring.
  • Thick coconut milk is otherwise known as "onnam pal" and thin coconut milk is otherwise known as "randam pal".

©Copyright Reserved 2010-2014, Nisahomey.com

Comments

  1. I have never had a banana dessert prepared this way...I am so intrigued. It surely looks very tempting, Nisa.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my, your recipe sounds very flavorful. I will have to try this soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Superb,
    Your recipe is very good.
    I could also see the efforts involved and presentation parts.
    Thanks Nisa for this wonderful recipe. God bless you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deeps, thanks for the thought; yes balancing camera on one hand and cooking and stirring on another hand and taking pics without making sure that my poor old cam is not at melting point with the heat.....but the comment below made me so happy! Thank you!!

      Delete
  4. Best payasam..perfect for thiruvonam...tried this with thiruvona sadya..i hv tasted this many times on certain occassions bt never tried at home..we used to prepare ada pradhaman or semiya on thiruvonam..bt never thought this was so easy..as u told the only difficulty is scrapping the coconuts😳😳..
    Pradhaman was very tasty..we all liked it soo much..our thiruvona sadya was really kidilam😃 with this recipe
    Thanks a lot for this grt recipe..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anju, thanks a ton for stopping by with the amazing feedback! So glad that you and family enjoyed the payasam. Since banana is aplenty here in Kerala, I thought of sharing it as Onam special and so very glad that my effort is paid off. ...and yes, I also wanted to highlight that making pradhaman is not that difficult and even I used to stay away from making it as a newbie in cooking....but once I started making it and understood it is so easy! Belated Onam wishes to you and family.

      Delete
  5. Dessert? I'd eat this for breakfast. :) Looks delicious Nisa!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks a lot for visiting my space. Your comments, suggestions, criticism and all opinions are very much appreciated. Thank you for stopping by and have a nice day.

Popular posts from this blog

Turmeric Tea Mix Recipe For Weight Loss - Homemade/DIY (Golden) Turmeric Tea Mix

turmeric tea mix - diy turmeric mix to make turmeric tea or golden milk. turmeric tea for weight loss, for a flat belly, stomach bloating, and for overall health. this homemade mix is an excellent fat burner and also will boost immunity. have this on empty stomach in the morning for best results. the active ingredient in turmeric known as curcumin has powerful anti inflammatory effects and is a strong anti oxidant. curcumin is not easily absorbed by the body and that is the reason inspite of us Indians having lots of turmeric in our diet, do not get its full benefits. black pepper is the one natural ingredient that helps the curcumin to be absorbed into the body by around 2000%, wow! So, do not skip black pepper when taking turmeric. All the ingredients I used in this homemade turmeric tea mix are locally acquired and organic. curcumin/turmeric is fat soluble so it is also a good option to have a warm cup after a heavy meal. studies shows that turmeric can prevent cancer, h

Caramel Pudding Recipe - Caramel Custard Recipe

Caramel pudding recipe;  a delicious traditional dessert with creamy caramel over silky custard. Caramel custard is my favorite pudding. All through my childhood, amma makes caramel pudding as a Sunday special.....achachen (my dad) love only this pudding...... 42 years of serving caramel pudding to him has made amma, a sort of an authority on caramel pudding recipe! Ah yes, like always this is amma's recipe. It is her signature, no-fail recipe. of caramel custard. Okay lets talk about this pudding!!  I used 4 eggs because amma said so  eggs are the show stopper here :)......it is needed to make the pudding silky-satin, and stand tall....and yes it will not crumble.....now you may wonder....won't this be eggy!!smelly!! I promise it won't....there wouldn't be too much eggy flavor! caramel flavor can do wonders!! Believe me!! I am using my steamer or appachembu as it is known locally to cook the pudding. While the pudding is steaming, it is import

Pidiyum Kozhiyum Recipe - How To Make Kerala Style Kozhi Pidi - Kerala Recipes

Pidiyum kozhiyum or kottayam style pidi is a traditional knanaya cuisine ; these rice dumpling have a thick gravy like sauce, unlike the dry versions of Malabar kakka roti or kozhi pidi. Knanaya style pidi is served with varutharacha kozhi curry. Traditionally, pidi is associated with baby shower ie when the daughter-in-law is sent to her parents house for delivery, it is customary for the mother-in-law to make kozhi pidi and we knanaya people still follow these traditions. My main aim is to preserve this recipe; so that the future generations can enjoy this wholesome dish. Pidi is rice dumplings which is simmered in water along with shallots, garlic, curry leaves, and coriander seeds; but I have used coriander powder instead to make the whole process easy. Amma mentioned that if using coriander seeds then; the water used to mix the rice flour should be sieved and that using fresh roasted coriander powder saves time. I have made a video recipe and I hope this you help