ADA PRADHAMAN

A speciality of Kerala, ‘Ada Pradhaman’ makes use of ‘palada’made from rice, jaggery and coconut milk. Traditionally it would be made at homes from scratch but nowadays you get very good ones in the market.

Ingredients

Rice palada – 100 gms (1/2 cup)

Jaggery – 1 cup

Coconut – 1 (extract milk)

Raisins – 2 tbsp

Cashew nuts / almonds – 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder – ½ - 1 tsp

Ghee – 2-3 tsp

Method

To prepare coconut milk -

Grate a big coconut.

Grind it with a tbsp of water, put it in a thin cloth and extract the thick milk and keep aside the 1^st milk.

Again put the same coconut in the mixer, add 2 tbsp of water and grind again.

Extract the 2^nd milk (thinner than the first one) and keep aside separately.

Again grind the same coconut with a little water and extract the thinnest 3^rd milk and set aside.

 To prepare ‘Ada Pradhaman’ -

Heat 1 ½ -2 cups of water in a thick-bottomed vessel and cook the palada on low heat, constantly stirring, till it gets cooked.

Dissolve 1 cup of jaggery in ¾ cup of water and make a syrup.

Add the cooked palada and stir well on low heat.

Add the 3rd coconut milk (dilutest) and boil for a few minutes.

Add the 2^nd milk and boil for 2 minutes.

Turn off the heat.

Add the thick coconut milk and stir.

Add cardamom powder.

Fry the raisins and nuts in 3 tsp of ghee and add them to the ada pradhaman.

Serve hot / chilled.

 Tips

If extracting coconut milk is too cumbersome, try coconut milk available in packs.

I would rather add regular milk because marketed coconut milk does not have the freshness!

 © Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.