Sweet Creamy Vermicelli

Creamy Vermicelli Dessert

This delicious dessert dish is quite easy to make. Just a few ingredients common to all cuisines, and a little patience, lead to a great pudding-like dessert. It is a kind of Kheer, for lack of a better term. It is very popular as “Semiya Payasam” in South India and I am pretty sure you will like it too. If you are Vegan, instead of milk use soy milk or almond milk, and use cooking oil for butter or ghee.

Hover over the highlighted Keywords below for Images and/or Description of some of the Ingredients:
Cardamom, Cashews, Raisins

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Serves	4
Cook time	20 minutes
Dietary	Diabetic, Vegetarian
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Child Friendly, Gourmet, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold, Serve Hot
Region	Indian

Ingredients

1/4lb Vermicelli or Angel hair pasta (1/4 package of a 16 oz package)
1 cup Water
4 cups Milk (whole milk)
1 - 2 cup Sugar (regular cane sugar or sugar substitute such as Splenda)
1/4 - 1/2 cup Cashews (broken into small pieces)
1/4 cup Raisins
1 teaspoon Cardamom Powder
1/2 cup Ghee (melted butter)

Note

Serving Suggestions:
1) You can serve this hot, cold or in room temperature.
Note:
1) If you cannot take sugar, just add 1 cup of sugar substitute, such as Splenda which tastes the closest to sugar as far as I know. If dieting, you can also add half cup of sugar and half a cup of sugar substitute.
2) Increase or decrease sugar as you like.

Directions

Step 1
In a medium or large, deep, non-stick sauce pan, add 2 tbsp of melted butter. Place it on medium heat.
Step 2
When butter is heated up, lower the heat. Add the broken cashews. Fry a little or until cashews are light golden brown. Do not fry too much; they will burn. Immediately transfer the contents to a small bowl.
Step 3
In the same sauce pan, on low heat, add 1 more tbsp of butter. Add the raisins. Keep stirring. Fry the raisins until they puff up and are lightly fried. Do not fry too much. Immediately transfer the contents to the small bowl along with the cashews.
Step 4
Break the vermicelli sticks into small pieces, say two inch pieces. On low heat, add 1/4 cup of melted butter to the same sauce pan. When butter is heated up, add the vermicelli pieces. Gently stir it for a minute or two, until the vermicelli is very light golden brown. It may seem a little clumsy to do this. But just a little would do. Do not fry much. Just let the raw flavor change a little. Some of the pieces may still look raw, that's okay. Transfer the contents to a plate or bowl.
Step 5
On medium heat, add the water and milk to the same sauce pan. Stir it once in a while. Let it come to a boil.
Step 6
Add the Vermicelli pieces. Keep stirring often, otherwise the contents will get burnt.
Step 7
Cook the vermicelli until it is well-cooked. Vermicelli should be fully cooked, mushy when crushed.
Step 8
Add one cup of sugar and the cardamom. Mix well and keep stirring. Taste a teaspoon of the liquid. If not sweet enough, add more sugar, half a cup at a time. Let the contents cook, blend together and become thicker.
Step 9
When done, the mixture should be as thick as possible.
Step 10
Add the cashews and raisins. Mix well.
Step 11
Serve hot, warm or cold. This dish is great any way you taste it!