Nendhrapazha payasam

Nendhram... a type of banana... whenever I hear the name , all I get is a picture of those delicious ...crispy... yellow coloured chips...hmmm .... 
WAIT!! That's not what I have now.... these are not raw bananas, these are ripe ones. No mood to experiment today ... so just cooking a traditional dish. So here is what I did.. 


Ingredients:
Nendhram Banana   -  2 nos.
Coconut(shredded)    -   2 cups
Jaggery    -  2/3 cup
Ghee     -  3 Tsp
Cardomom    -  2-3 nos.


Method:
To prepare Coconut Milk:

1. Grind the shredded coconuts into fine paste. You may need to add few drops of water.
2. Then squeeze it in a cup. It fills quarter cup or so.This is our so called "1st coconut milk."
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with more water this time , maybe half a cup, and squeeze and store in a separate container. Now we have "2nd coconut milk" (about half cup)
4. Repeat the same for "3rd coconut milk" too... Now again in a different container. (you guessed it... about 1 cup)
5. Enough do not repeat anymore... !!! 

To prepare payasam:

1. Cut the bananas into small pieces and saute them in ghee.
2. Now add the 3rd coconut milk and let the bananas cook for a minute or two.
3. Then powder the jaggery, make sure its clean and free of mud, and add to the mixture.
4. Let the jaggery dissolve completely and keep stirring for another 2 minutes.
5. Add powdered cardamom.
6. Finally add 2nd coconut milk to it and let it come to a boil and then switch off the stove.

To serve:

     Add 1st coconut milk and mix it. Serve hot...

Confessions:

•   Yup preparing coconut milk IS a tedious process... but believe me its worth it! 
•   Never add 1st coconut milk to any dish that is still cooking.
•   Actually I guessed the recipe and it came out really well... :) ;) of course I for sure knew the ingredients before hand... :)