Wheat Payasam with Jaggery

Wheat payasam – a delicious, healthy creamy dreamy dessert made with whole wheat berries, sweetened with jaggery and flavoured with cardamom. This wheat berry recipe is also called godi huggi, godhumai payasam, gothambu payasam, wheat kheer.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• How to prepare wheat payasam?
• Variations and Substitutions
• Tips & Tricks
• Storage
• Notes
• How to make wheat payasam in instant pot?
• FAQ
• Easy Indian dessert recipes
• 📖 Recipe Card
• Related

Wheat payasam with jaggery is a delicious dessert that is perfect to make at the upcoming Diwali festival. Foods, especially desserts are the most important aspect of celebrating festivals or any happy occasions.

It is a common tradition to exchange gifts and sweet treats such as laddo, halwa or burfi among friends and families on Diwali.

This time why not treat your friends and family with this healthy, nutritious and guilt-free sweet treat wheat payasam? Even weight watchers don’t feel guilty about relishing this sweet.

Whole wheat kernels have the goodness of iron, proteins and fiber. These grains cook like rice and plump up when completely cooked and it will be a little chewy.

Wheat berries are used to make traditional south Indian desserts such as gavachi kheer, godhumai payasam, godi huggi/godi payasa. The base ingredients wheat berries, jaggery and milk remain the same with little variations in the cooking process and the addition of a couple more ingredients such as poppy seeds and rice.

Kerala style Gothambu payasam recipe is prepared in a pretty similar process but broken wheat also called cracked wheat or godhuma rava is used instead of whole wheat kernels.

This broken wheat payasam is one of the mandatory sadya recipes served at the Onam feast along with varieties of vegetable stir fry dishes, sambar, rasam, curries, rice, pickles, chutneys and appalam.

How to prepare wheat payasam?

Soak wheat berries for 8 hours.

Blend soaked wheat berries to a coarse paste.

Fry cashews and raisins in ghee and keep them on a plate over a kitchen towel to use later.

Fry blended wheat berries in ghee.

Combine coconut milk with fried wheat berries and cook on medium-high heat until berries are cooked stirring regularly.

Stir in jaggery.

Mix in cardamom powder, fried cashews and raisins.

Enjoy hot and creamy wheat payasam with your family and friends.

Check out semiya payasam and moong dal payasam on the blog.

Variations and Substitutions

Whole wheat payasam is a versatile dish that can be customised. I’ve made a simple version with few ingredients.

Coarsely ground poppy seeds enhance flavour and taste.

Ground nutmeg or ground cinnamon adds a great flavour.

Ground ginger adds a mild spicy note to payasam.

Fresh coconut pieces or grated dry coconut elevate the coconut flavour and add a lovely texture to the payasam.

You could add more dried fruits such as almonds and pistachios.

A pinch of saffron adds fabulous flavour and aroma to this kheer recipe.

Try adding condensed milk for a rich taste and flavour.

Check out instant pot whole wheat payasam recipe on the blog.

Tips & Tricks

Don’t have enough time to soak? Just wash and cook wheat in an instant pot or in a pressure cooker for 5-6 whistles or until berries are cooked and then grind them to a coarse paste. The rest of the cooking procedure remains the same. Check out how to cook wheat berries in instant pot on the blog.

If you have difficulty in grating or breaking hard jaggery blocks, just pop them in the microwave for a few seconds or until they soften. Soft jaggery is easier to handle.

You can substitute coconut milk with dairy milk. If using dairy milk, do not add jaggery while cooking as it would curdle the milk. Turn off the heat once the wheat is well cooked, let it stand to cool down slightly and then add jaggery.

An alternate option is to make jaggery syrup and add it at the end after turning off the heat. This ensures jaggery blends well with wheat.

Thick coconut milk yields creamy and rich payasam. 

To check berries are well cooked, ensure the berry is soft and breaks when pressed between thumb and index fingers. Alternatively, scoop out a few berries and taste it after they've cooled a bit. They should be chewy but not tough.

Do not add jaggery when wheat berries are not cooked completely as berries don't cook further but just absorb the jaggery flavour.

Storage

Fridge: Payasam will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 3 days if stored properly in a clean airtight container.

Reheat: Place payasam in a pot and heat over medium flame until piping hot stirring regularly.

Notes

Add more milk while cooking if milk is almost absorbed but wheat hasn't yet cooked well.

Adjust jaggery as per your preferred sweetness.

You can substitute regular jaggery with palm jaggery.

Cooking time may vary depending on the type of burner you use.

For the vegan version of wheat kheer, substitute ghee with coconut oil or plant-based butter.

How to make wheat payasam in instant pot?

Soak wheat berries for 8 hours.

Blend soaked wheat berries to a coarse paste.

Plug in an instant pot, press the saute button and add the ghee.

Once the ghee melts and is hot, add cashews, raisins and fry for a minute or two until the raisins swell and the cashews start turning light brown. 

Remove the fried cashews and raisins from the pot and keep them on a plate to use later.

Now add coarsely ground wheat and roast for a couple of minutes or until the berries are aromatic.

Press the cancel button.

Add coconut milk, stir well and close the pot with the lid. Move the pressure release valve to the sealing position.

Press the pressure cook/manual button and set the timer to 10 minutes.

FAQ

Easy Indian dessert recipes

Bread Rasmalai: an instant version of traditional rasmalai. It can be made in a jiffy and it is a saver when we have to serve unexpected guests or whenever we crave something sweet.

Belgaum Kunda: North Karnataka special sweet is made by reducing and curdling the milk and cooking with caramelised sugar.

Mango Coconut Burfi: Delicious tropical flavoured fudge made with mango pulp and desiccated coconut.

Sweet Pongal: A popular south Indian sweet made with rice, jaggery and flavoured with cardamom. 

Moong Dal Payasam:  a delicious and creamy south Indian dessert made using coconut milk, yellow split moong dal, sweetened with jaggery, flavoured with cardamom and garnished with nuts and raisins.

Lauki Halwa: It is a delectable Indian sweet made from bottle gourd (lauki), sugar, flavoured with cardamom and garnished with nuts.

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Related

Looking for other Indian desserts like this? Try these: