<p>I feel like eating boondi laddooo like the ones they give in Tirupathi temple.</p>
<p>I like Boondi ke laddoo!
Tippu have you ever had payasam? It’s the one south Indian dish that I’ve been wanting to taste for the past exactly 4 years and haven’t yet.</p>
<p>Have I ever had payasam? Yes, I have eaten all kinds of payasams or payasas - made with jaggery or sugar. (Tamilians have this odd habit of putting m’s and n’s after every word and north Indians think all south Indians are Tamilians or Madrasis. Another topic for another day.)</p>
<p>Kannadigas have this habit of putting u’s after every word.</p>
<p>^ interesting. I never thought of that. I think Telugu and Kannada are similar in that regard. Their scripts look similar.</p>
<p>Yes, Telugu and Kannada are said to be similar but I find it easier to understand Tamil than Telugu, for some strange reason.</p>
<p>I know only one word in Kannada, “Illa”.
I heard it a lot when my friends and I used to make rounds of each other’s houses to call on each other.
It’s a funny thing to admit, but I like the south Indian accent. Maybe because I’m so used to hearing it. Many of my school teachers were south indians too.</p>
<p>Here’s a story of “Pixie and the Payasam”.</p>
<p>There was this chapter in English in class 9th, the very first chapter in the literature reader called “The Postman”. It talked about a south Indian family trying to get their girl,Miriam married. She was seventeen and heaven forbid that she remain unmarried till 18. And the postman was a very important figure in the story since he used to bring all the offers and rejections. Plus he was a very good friend of the family. So he said, when Miriam gets married, I shall be treated to payasam by you(the family). And there was a star on the top of the word and at the end of the page it was given “payasam is a sweet south indian dish made of milk and coconut.”
Ever since then, I have had this set idea of payasam in my mind, an ideal basically. I’m so afraid that the real thing might not match up to my drawn up fantasy of it that I haven’t had it yet!</p>
<p>hmmm… pixie do you remeber the lesson cutie pie?? It was such **** science fiction i bet i can write better.</p>
<p>Pixie: This: [Kheer</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheer]Kheer”>Kheer - Wikipedia) is payasam. Its kheer.</p>
<p>Huh? But i’ve never had kheer made of coconut! Bluebox, you just almost spoiled my ideal of payasam! I still haven’t had it so I’m going to go on with my fantasy and call it ‘payasam’! Kheer. How boring.</p>
<p>Nomad- Oh yes! But I liked the line, which went something like the most intelligent people found it on planet cuta-pi and the lesser intelligent ones at once struck upon the brillian idea of calling it cutie-pie 
Bdw, that story was supposed to be dumb. It was a slight satire on the short attention span of human beings and their general stupidity. A few parts were good funny sarcasm.</p>
<p>Kheer and payasa taste similar but payasams generally have thinner consistency.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about kheer but what I have encountered so far here in Indian restaurants are either rice, vermicelli or sabudana. </p>
<p>In south, payasams have distinct regional flavors. I can tell the difference between payasams made in TN and coastal Karnataka. (bdw, most prominent vegetarian restaurants in Chennai are run by people from a coastal town in Karnataka called Udupi. Udupi food is the best.)</p>
<p>Peerkanga/Heere Kai, Jack Fruit payasas are South Kanara are specials. They are very different from kheer.</p>
<p>I am not such a big fan of payasa or kheer, unless is shavige payasa (noodle kheer). Oh but yes, Udipi restaurants are the best!</p>
<p>Hi! So i’m not from India, but I am an Indian vegetarian born and brought up in the US. I am the pickiest person ever in terms of contamination. People are pretty understanding about this if you just let them know, and the few things they cannot accommodate you for, just do without. Like at subway, they keep the meats separate. And they will change their gloves if you request them to. UCSD has plenty of veg options in the dining halls. In fact, they eve have meatless mondays, in which all the grill items are veggie, and they are actually very good too. If you look around, you can definitely find good veggie food. Just do your research and don’t be afraid of asking questions. :)</p>
<p>I like phirni better. LOL, Pixie Payasam seemed like an exotic unique South Indian dish until blue_box’s revelation. </p>
<p>We call it Payesh in the East. ;)</p>
<p>perfectpixie: wasnt d girl dat was getting married called Kamakshi and not Miriam. That doesnt quite look like a South Indian name. Does it? ;)</p>
<p>Oh yeah! I wonder why Miriam popped into my mind?
Kamakshi sounds beeeyutiful.</p>
<p>^because miriam was the name of the daughter who never replied to the old hunter in the chapter “the letter” and he visits the post office regularly and so you mind formed a connection from post office to the postman to the girl.</p>
<p>I am from Kerala. We often make payasam at home. If you guys visit me for diwali, I’ll make sure you taste at least four types of payasam.
It is a common misconception that payasam and kheer is the same.
@pixie- Your fantasies may not be misplaced after all - at least when it comes to certain types of payasams.</p>
<p>^That is so cool! Kerela is beautiful. And it’s never cold. I’ll leg it over in summer break 'kay if I can get away from my Aunt’s in Bangalore and we can have payasam and coconut all day :)</p>