Palada pradhaman - The king of Kerala desserts

It is my mother's birthday today, so I called her up to talk to her and she told me she was making palada pradhaman, I remembered my mother sending me a ready made ada packet,so guess what i am cooking today? Yes palada pradhaman. I thought I will celebrate my mother's birthday by preparing the same.

Palada pradhaman is famous desert in Kerala  It is like the king of deserts in Kerala.It is basically made from cooked rice flakes,milk,sugar and a little of cardamom powder.Like n traditional payasam no cashew or raisins are added, but I am using both cashews and raisins. Usually in Kerala, they prepare the ada from scratch but now we can but the ready made one's from the shops, that saves a lot of time.

                        

                         

My Mom told me "palada pradhaman is not watery like our usual payasam, it should be thick in texture, so let it cook until it starts to thicken".I don't like thick payasams, so I am taking it out when it is still a little bit  watery today, sorry Mom.

Palada Pradhaman  Serves 5- 6 

Ingredients

Ready-made ada - 1 cup / 220 gms

Milk - 6 cup / 2 lts

Sugar - 1 cup / 225 gms or to your taste

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tspn

Water - 2 cups

Ghee - 3 tspn

Cashews - 1tspn (optional)

Raisins - 1 tspn (optional)

Method

In a pan bring the water to boil.

Add the ready-made ada to the boiling water, switch off heat and cover it with a lid and let it absorb the water for 20 minutes.Drain the water and keep it aside.

In another pan bring the milk to a boil and simmer and let it boil for 10 minutes, add the drained ada and let it cook.

When the mixture starts to thicken a little bit ,add  3/4 cup sugar and stir until the sugar melts. Taste 

and if you find the sugar is less, add the remaining sugar according to taste.

Add the cardamom powder and mix well.

Once the mixture is thick it may take about 30 - 40 minutes and to check that ( if you take the spoon out of the mixture and draw a line with your fingers in the center of the spoon, the mixture should it should hold and not mix or drip).

Switch off heat.

Heat ghee in a pan with cashews and fry until golden brown, add raisins switch off heat and pour in to the payasam mixture. This step is optional.

Note:

If you want your payasam to be little watery, switch off the heat once you feel the ada is fully cooked and soft to taste.