My mum-in-law is a great cook and so when we visit each year, I'm in for quite a treat! My husband has a few favourite things on his request list for her, and one of them is kozhukattai payasam. I watched her as she cooked this up this year, and participated in the fun bits too! I have to say, it took a while but was well worth the effort. Here's her kozhukattai payasam recipe.

What you need

• Rice flour

• Water

• Coconut

• Moong dal

• Sugar

• Cardamom

• Ghee

What you do

1. Cook the rice flour with water, on low heat, stirring continuously till it forms a dough. Now break tiny portions of the dough off and roll into balls, about 5mm in diameter. This takes a while, so be prepared. My husband, mum-in-law and I did this together, and it helps if you've got something to chat about!

2. Extract the milk from the coconut. Break and peel the coconut. Cut out the flesh and grind it. Press the ground coconut through a sieve, adding a little water as you do this, to collect as much milk as you can.

3. Add the coconut milk to the bubbling moong dal  mixture. Let it all cook together for a few minutes. Add sugar, and stir it in.

4. Add the rice flour balls to the bubbling liquid, and let them cook. This could take about 20 minutes. You know they're done when they no longer squish between your fingers, and are slightly chewy

5. Finish off by sprinkling some freshly ground cardamom. Turn off the heat.

6. Ladle the kozhukattai payasam into bowls, and drizzle some ghee on top. Mmm!