Ada pradhaman
Rice flakes in a sauce of coconut milk cooked with jaggery.
Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).
Ingredients
- 150 g rice ada, rice flakes
- 300 g jaggery, grated
- 150 ml water
- 700 ml thick coconut milk
- 300 ml thin coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground dried ginger
- 4 tablespoons ghee
- 40 g coconut pieces, in slivers
- 30 g cashew nuts
Method
- RICE FLAKES IN A SAUCE OF COCONUT MILK COOKED WITH JAGGERY. Its article is short and complete: ada pradhaman is MADE BY USING THE RICE ADA (RICE PASTA OR FLAKES) WITH A SAUCE OF COOKED COCONUT MILK AND JAGGERY, it IS A VARIETY OF PAYASAM, AND IS SERVED TOGETHER WITH SADYA. The ada is the same rice sheet as the parcel on its own page, cut into flakes instead of being wrapped.
- COOK THE ADA SEPARATELY AND RINSE IT. Boiled in plenty of water until it is soft and translucent, then drained and rinsed in cold water. The starch it gives off will turn the whole payasam to glue if it is cooked in the coconut milk.
- MELT THE JAGGERY WITH THE WATER AND STRAIN IT. Jaggery carries grit and it is the one thing you cannot pick out later.
- THE ADA GOES INTO THE JAGGERY SYRUP FIRST, NOT INTO THE MILK. Ten minutes at a simmer, until the flakes have taken the colour and the syrup has thickened round them. This is where the sweetness gets inside the flake.
- THEN THE THIN COCONUT MILK, AND TEN MINUTES MORE. It loosens and darkens.
- THE THICK MILK GOES IN LAST AND MUST NOT BOIL. Off a rolling heat, stirred in, warmed through for five minutes only. Boiled thick coconut milk splits and goes oily, and there is no bringing it back.
- CARDAMOM AND DRIED GINGER OFF THE HEAT. The ginger is the Kerala habit and it is what stops a very sweet payasam being cloying.
- FRY THE COCONUT SLIVERS AND CASHEWS IN GHEE AND POUR THEM OVER. Served hot, which its article specifies, and it notes PALADA PRADHAMAN is the version MADE WITH PAL (MILK), RICE ADA, SUGAR, CARDAMOM POWDER, NUTS AND RAISINS.
Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.
Filed under India · All recipes