Vermicelli, Javarisi (tapioca pearls) Payasam (Pudding) with almond paste

I have kept up my resolution for this year so far. I bake a loaf of bread every other week. I am still amazed at how easy the process is. Mix the dough in the morning, let it rise, knead and shape it in the evening, let it rise in the pan and bake at night when I am watching one of my favorite TV serials. While I am on the subject of serials, the one that has impressed me most this season is on Fox TV "Lie to Me". I was listening to NPR one evening when I heard the advisor to the show psychologist Paul Ekman professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco, on whose work the TV show is based on discussing the show and decided to watch it. I had missed the first episode but watched it on Fox web site. I would so love to have this skill and detect from facial expressions who is lying. But then again you really don't want to catch lies all the times right, living like an ostrich helps sometimes.

Do you pay bribes to your kids for being good or for them to forget the nagging they got from you? I seem to do it all the time. One such let's call it ahem difference of opinion happened a few days ago in the morning before getting ready for school. I can't remember exactly what the argument was about but after DD had left for school I started feeling bad about it. Once I decided I'd have something special when she comes home in the evening the feeling disappeared almost immediately. I had caught sight of this delcious Firni earlier and it seemed just the right candidate for any hard feelings. Payasam or pudding as you will read is a universal dessert cooked in every part of the world. I am strange and I am not fond of rice in payasam. Though payasam has been one of my favorite desserts, my mind does not say yes to rice payasam. You have the right to call me crazy. The Rice Pudding was delicious and creamy and I enjoyed it thoroughly but if it is called payasam it cannot have rice. Vermicelli and tapioca pearls are in my mind the parts that make payasam whole and DD loves spooning the floating pearls. Needless to say the DDs enjoyed the payasam thoroughly and the almond paste added made it doubly rich and creamy.

Vermicelli, Tapioca Pearls Payasam
Ingredients
1. 1/4 cup vermicelli roasted (roast the vermicelli in a drop of ghee till it turns color)
2. 1/4 cup of tapioca pearls cooked in about a cup of water for 5-8 minutes
3. 10-15 almonds soaked in water and peeled
4. 2 tbsp cashews and raising roasted in ghee
5. 2-3 tbsp of sugar
6. 3 cups of milk (I used 1% milk, did not have whole milk handy)
7. 1 tbsp MTR badam mix (optional) or 1 tsp powdered cardamom and a pinch of saffron
Method
1. In a heavy bottomed pan add the milk and let it come to a boil
2. Blend the almonds to a paste with a bit of milk and add it to the boiling milk
3. Now add the roasted vermicelli and cooked tapioca pearls
4. Let it continue to boil till the milk reduces to one third.
5. Add sugar and badam mixand let it dissolve completely
6. Now add the roasted cashews and raisins

Serve warm or chilled. Add chopped nuts on top before serving.