Dessert that unites communities

Chefs preparing various types of payasam for guests to enjoy.

IF you ask your Malayalee friends to name their favourite traditional sweet, their answer would probably be payasam, a milky porridge-like dessert that is enjoyed across south India and the diaspora.

The dessert is so loved by the Malayalees, a community that traces its roots to India’s Kerala state, that sadhya (feast) on Vishu (spring festival) and Onam (harvest festival) are incomplete without several varieties of payasam on the menu.