This vegan pal payasam is a delicious, no-nonsense creamy rice and milk pudding. It is commonly made in South India, particularly in Kerala for the festival of Onam. Since rice is the staple grain in south India, it has several great recipes for salty as well as sweet. This payasam (also called kheer in Hindi) is going to be your favorite rice pudding from now on. It uses very simple and minimal ingredients but tastes so rich and decadent.
More about Pal Payasam
In India, a rice pudding has several names. the ones I’m familiar with are kheer (hindi) and payasam (malayalam and Tamil). Pal payasam literally translates to milk (paal) pudding of sorts (payasam). It is often written as Paal Payasam or referred or Rice Payasam or chawal ki kheer (kheer made of rice).
This vegan Pal Payasam is really the easiest Indian dessert that you can make. It literally involves only 4-5 ingredients – rice, soy milk, sugar, nuts, and dried fruit, flavored with cardamom– cooked down to a thick and creamy pudding of bliss.
Ingredients and extra additions for Vegan Rice Pudding
The name of this dish literally starts with milk. And my answer to dairy-based milk is always soy milk. It has a very similar nutrition profile with the perfect combination of fat and protein required to cook this payasam down and get that creamy rich consistency you get from regular milk. And no, it doesn’t taste any different but has the added benefit of containing no cholesterol and a happy cow. Win-win? 😉
When it comes to rice, the most traditional rice used in Kerala for pal payasam is Chemba pachari which isn’t something I find here in France. So I used Ponni rice. You can use any kind of short-grained white rice for this recipe. You may also sub with basmati rice which is what they use in North India for Kheer.
I use vegan ghee which is more common in the markets nowadays than before. But you can also just use deodorized coconut oil, avocado oil, or any other neutral oil to fry the nuts and dried fruit in.
Of course you can make this dessert as fancy as you want with additions like:
- Saffron strands
- Sliced almonds
- Chopped pistachios
- Rose water
- Ground nutmeg
How to make Vegan Pal Payasam
Basically, Rice Payasam is made with the slow cooking method. Simmering the Vegan Pal Payasam for a long time helps in developing complex flavors that make up for the simple ingredients.
- Start by washing the rice, covering it with water, and setting it aside.
2. In a wide deep bottomed heavy pan pour in the water and the soy milk and bring to a slow boil.
3. Once it comes to a boil add in the drained rice to the pan and let it cook on a medium flame.
4. The milk mixture will slowly evaporate and reduce in volume by half after the 30-minute mark. After 1 hour and 10 minutes, the mixture would have acquired an off-white color and turned thick in consistency.
Now, Add in the sugar and ground cardamom seeds and mix well. Let it boil for 2 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the flame and set it aside.
5. In a smaller pan, heat vegan ghee and add in the cashews and raisins. Fry on low flame until the nuts are slightly golden and then pour it on to the vegan pal payasam. Serve warm or cold.
I hope you make this for a special occasion or as a lovely treat for yourself! Do tag me on Instagram or comment down below if you do!
Try other delicious Indian desserts from the blog:
- Vegan Pear Halwa
- Vegan Gulab Jamun
- Vegan Kulfi – Indian Ice Cream
- Healthy Vegan Laddoos
- Vegan Ela Ada | The Best Healthy South Indian Dessert
Vegan Pal Payasam
Ingredients
For the base of the payasam
- 2 cups Soy milk (480 g)
- 3 cups Water (720 g) Milk to water ratio 2:3 by volume
- 1/4 cup Raw Rice (47 g)
- 1/3 cup Sugar (67 g)
- 4-5 Cardamom pods shelled and powdered fine
Tempering with nuts and dried fruit
- 2 tsp Vegan ghee sub with avocado oil, deodorized coconut oil or any other nuetral oil
- 8-10 cashew nuts halved
- 8-10 raisins
Instructions
- Wash the rice, cover with water and set aside.
- In a wide deep bottomed heavy pan pour in the water and the soy milk and bring to a slow boil.
- Once it comes to a boil add in the drained rice to the pan and let it cook on a medium flame.
- The milk mixture will slowly evaporate and reduce in volume by half after the 30 minute mark. After 1 hour and 10 minutes, the mixture would have acquired an off white colour and turned thick in consistency. At this point you can add 1/4 cup more soy milk to loosen it up if its too thick for you.
- Add in the sugar and ground cardamom seeds and mix well. Let it boil for 2 minutes until the sugar is dissolved in. Turn off the flame and set aside.
- Heat vegan ghee and oil in a pan and add in the cashews and raisins. Fry on low flame until the nuts are slightly golden and then pour it on to the vegan pal payasam.
- Serve warm or cold. Enjoy!
Notes
- This vegan pal payasam can be stored in the refrigerator (in an air-tight container) for up to a week and enjoyed throughout the week.
- When cooled down, the payasam gets thicker. So make sure to cater to that when boiling down the payasam to your desired thickness.
Tried this recipe and it was so good! Never knew the vegan version of a milk-based dessert could taste this good! Perfect texture, perfect flavours.
Thanks, Rachel! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 😀
Can I use almond milk instead of soy?
Tried making this payasam yesterday. It tasted so heavenly. The texture reminded me of my mum’s very famous payasam. This used to be my birthday dessert all through my school and uni years. After going vegan, this was one of the two things that I missed. So, thank you for the amazing recipe.
Thanks for the sweet review, Sandy!! I’m so happy to hear that. This payasam reminds me of my mother’s payasam, which she used to make for my birthday!!🙌🏽 We have similarities there 😊
Will definitely give it a go! A good subsitute for the chemba pachari rice is the kalijeera rice (of Bangaladesh origin) which I have found is more easily available in the US. Its fragrant and glutinous, perfect for a pudding.