Chana Dal Payasam is a popular South Indian dessert recipe made with chana dal, jaggery, cardamom, ghee, nuts, and coconut milk in an Instant Pot pressure cooker or stovetop. Perfect for any festival or celebration.
Payasam, also known as kheer, is a traditional Indian sweet pudding made with milk, grains such as rice, millets, broken wheat, tapioca, semolina, or lentils, and sweetened with jaggery or sugar. Popular variations of payasam include moong dal payasam, semiya payasam, rava payasam, rice payasam, and paneer payasam.
Today, I am sharing one of the easiest, healthy desserts, Chana Dal Payasam, made with chana dal, coconut milk, and jaggery in the pressure cooker. Some people like adding soaked and boiled sabudana/sago (tapioca) into this dish.
It is often prepared for festivals or special occasions. This is my dad's favorite sweet, which my mom often made on Sunday afternoons, along with poori and veg saagu during my school days.
We call this chana dal payasam as kadale bele payasa in kannada, kadalai paruppu payasam in tamil, senaga pappu payasam in telugu or chana dal kheer in hindi.
More Chana Dal Recipes, you may like
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How to make Coconut Milk at home?
Blend ½ cup of shredded coconut (fresh or frozen) with 1 cup of lukewarm water. Strain the coconut milk in a strainer or nut milk bag, and this is the first and thickest coconut milk.
Grind again by adding 1 cup of water and extracting the milk, this is the second and thin coconut milk.
You can use a mix of first and second milk for this recipe. Transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate. You can save pulp for baked goods or add it to poriyals like carrot beans poriyal, or salads like carrot beetroot kosambari.
Chana Dal Payasam Ingredients
- Chana dal: Chana dal, also known as bengal gram dal or split chickpeas, is used. It's easily available in any Indian grocery store.
- Jaggery: I have used organic powdered jaggery, you may also use coconut sugar or brown sugar.
- Coconut milk: I have used full-fat coconut milk, you can also make it with almond milk or dairy milk.
- Ghee: (or coconut oil if vegan): is used for roasting dry fruits and chana dal. If you are vegan, use a neutral oil like coconut or avocado oil for roasting.
- Cardamom powder: I have used freshly ground cardamom from 3 whole green cardamom pods.
- Nuts: I have used cashews in this recipe. You can also use raisins, and almonds.
How to make Chana Dal Payasam in Instant Pot
Press SAUTE button on Instant Pot. Add 1 tablespoon ghee to the pot. Once hot, add ¼ cup of cashews and stir fry till they are light golden brown. Remove and keep aside.
Add ½ cup of chana dal (split chickpeas lentils) and roast with leftover ghee in the pot until you get a nice aroma in about 2 minutes, also, you should not let it brown too much.
Then add 2 cups of water. Mix well & Deglaze the pot.
Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 10 minutes.
Once the pot beeps, let it natural pressure release.
Once done, mash it roughly when it is hot.
Add ½ cup of powdered organic jaggery to this and turn on the SAUTE button. Boil in for 2-3 minutes until the jaggery melts.
Pour in 1 cup of full-fat coconut milk, and ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder, and stir well. Cook for only 1-2 minutes to avoid curdling.
Serve instant pot chana dal payasam/kheer warm or cold and garnish with roasted cashews.
Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method
- Heat ghee in a pressure cooker pan. Once hot, add cashews and stir fry till they are light golden brown. Remove and keep aside.
- Next, add chana dal and roast with leftover ghee in the pot till you get a nice aroma in about 2 minutes.
- Add water to the pan and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.
- Once done, mash it roughly, add jaggery to it, and turn on the gas again.
- Boil in for 2 minutes until the jaggery has been melted, and then pour in the coconut milk and cardamom powder and cook for only 1-2 minutes to avoid curdling.
- Serve chana dal payasam warm or cold and garnish with roasted cashews.
Expert Tips
- If you feel your jaggery has impurities, first heat the jaggery with water just to immerse it and melt the jaggery. Strain it through a metal strainer and add this to the senaga pappu payasam.
- You can also add roasted coconut slices (fresh or frozen) or dry coconut slices.
- Chana dal texture is important for the payasam. It should not be mushy.
Variations
- You can replace jaggery with coconut sugar or brown sugar, but traditionally, this dessert is prepared with jaggery.
- If you don't have coconut milk, you can add almond milk or full-fat dairy milk.
- I used store-bought coconut milk, but you can also use homemade coconut milk.
- You can follow the same recipe for moong dal as well.
More Instant Pot Indian Dessert Recipes
Chana Dal Payasam Instant Pot
Ingredients
- ½ cup chana dal
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup organic jaggery or coconut sugar ,adjust according to your taste
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 tablespoon ghee (or coconut oil if vegan)
- ¼ cup cashew nuts
Instructions
Instant Pot Method:
- Press SAUTE button. Add ghee into the pot. Once hot, add cashews, stir fry till they are light golden brown. Remove and keep aside.
- Add the chana dal (split chickpeas lentils) and roast with leftover ghee in the pot until you get a nice aroma in about 2 minutes, also you should not let it brown too much.Then add the water. Mix well & Deglaze the pot.
- Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 10 minutes.Once the pot beeps, let it natural pressure release.
- Once done, mash it roughly, when it is hot.
- Add powdered jaggery to this and turn on the SAUTE button. Boil in for 2-3 minutes until the jaggery melts.
- Pour in the coconut milk, cardamom powder, and stir well. Cook for only 1-2 minutes to avoid curdling.
- Serve instant pot chana dal payasam/kheer warm or cold and garnish with roasted cashews.
Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method:
- Heat ghee in a pressure cooker pan. Once hot add cashews and stir fry till they are light golden brown in color. Remove and keep aside.
- Next, add chana dal and roast with leftover ghee in the pot till you get a nice aroma in about 2 minutes.
- Add water into the pan and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.
- Once done, mash it roughly and add jaggery to this and turn on the gas again.
- Boil in for 2 minutes until the jaggery has been melted and then pour in the coconut milk, cardamom powder and cook for only 1-2 minutes to avoid curdling.
- Serve warm or cold and garnish with roasted cashews.
Notes
Tips & Variations:
- If you feel your jaggery has impurities, first heat the jaggery with water just to immerse it and melt the jaggery. Strain it through a metal strainer and add this to the senaga pappu payasam.
- You can also add roasted coconut slices (fresh or frozen) or dry coconut slices.
- Chana dal texture is important for the payasam. It should not be mushy.
- You can replace jaggery with coconut sugar or brown sugar, but traditionally this dessert is prepared with jaggery.
- If you don't have coconut milk, you can add almond milk or full-fat dairy milk.
- I used store brought coconut milk, but you can use homemade coconut milk as well.
- You can follow the same recipe for moong dal as well.
Nutrition
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