Palada Pradhaman

Is the onakodi for your family ready? Have you finalized your Onasadhya menu yet? Have you finished buying your vegetables, marked out the banana leaves that are going to be your organic plates for tomorrow or found out which shops sell banana leaves in case you are a pravasi malayali? Need I remind you that a sadhya is a sadhya only if you are able to produce atleast 20 vibhavangal to crowd those banana leaves? 

Needless to say, I am all excited that it is Onam tomorrow. For me, apart from draping my kasavu sari and decorating my hair with jasmine flowers, Onam is that one day of the year when vegetarian food shines in all its glory, each urulla of rice resulting in an explosion of flavours that are sweet, sour, spicy and tangy. My favourite part of the meal remains the payasam or sweet pudding. Kerala boasts of a wide variety of payasams such as adapradhaman, chakkapradhaman, paal payasam, ari payasam, semiya pasayam, payar payasam etc. Some are sweetened with jaggery and are dark in colour, while others use sugar and are white. I generally prefer the white over the dark or brown payasam as I call them and they are so easy to make that it would be a shame to buy them from a restaurant. I am positive Maveli will find the home made version more impressive!

Palada Pradhaman

You will need:

Ada, flat rice flakes

1 litre full fat milk
75 grams ada (flat ground rice flakes)
150 grams sugar
Seeds of 2 cardamom pods, powdered
1/4 cup cashewnuts
1/8 cup raisins
3 tablespoons ghee

Method:

Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a small pan. Fry cashewnuts till golden, remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside. Next, fry the raisins till they are plump and keep aside.

In a large pot or urulli, bring the milk to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add ada and sugar. Cook for 40 - 45 minutes stirring often till the ada is cooked and the milk has become thick. Stir in cardamom powder, nuts, raisins and the remaining ghee. Serve warm or cold.

Note: You can add half a teaspoon of vanilla essence and a tablespoon of condensed milk for added flavour.

Check out other Onam recipes here.

Wish you and your family a Very Happy Onam!

Tweet

Pin It