Ada Pradhaman - Kerala Ada Pradhaman for Onam - Step by Step

Ada Pradhaman, finally! This Kerala-style ada pradhaman or payasam is my absolute favourite and it's blasphemous that it took me 6 long years to share the recipe here. Amma and I made this ada pradhaman during my trip to Kottayam in July and I absolutely insist you all make it this year for Onam sadya this year. What's Onam without some ada pradhaman as part of your sadya, I ask!

While palada pradhaman uses the same ada, the process for making this jaggery-based payasam is more tedious but with good reason. It's way more delicious and you can make it vegan by omitting the ghee added to it! It's coconut milk all the way and we made some fresh coconut milk for ada pradhaman. You need coconut milk with two levels of thickness (ideally three), also called onnaam paal and rendaam paal in Malayalam.

Ada Pradhaman is delicious served warm at the end of your Onam Sadya right on the banana leaf or you can serve it warm or chilled in a glass with a spoon so you can scoop up the ada as you go. Talking about this is seriously making me homesick!

Note: If making coconut milk at home, you can follow instructions in my post on how to make coconut milk at home. If using store-bought coconut milk, dilute the coconut milk by adding equal amounts of water to get the thinner coconut milk or rendaam paal.

If you like jaggery-based payasams like me, try this parippu payasam or payar payasam too. Browse more Onam Payasam Recipes here.

KERALA ADA PRADHAMAN RECIPE

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 6-8
Recipe Source: Amma

INGREDIENTS:
100 gm of rice ada
250 gm of grated jaggery
5 cups of thin coconut milk (rendaam paal)
1 cup of thick coconut milk (onnaam paal)
2 tbsp of ghee
1/4 tsp of cardamom powder
1/4 tsp of roasted and powdered jeera (cumin)
1/4 tsp of dry ginger powder (chukku)
2 tbsp of coconut pieces
12 oraisins
12 cashew nuts

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. It's best to get the jaggery melted and sieved first. If you know your jaggery has no impurities, then you can skip this but generally, it's best to add about 1 cup water to your jaggery, melt it down on the stove, and pass it through a sieve. Set this aside until needed.

2. Pre-cook your ada according to package instructions. We brought some water+thinnest coconut milk (moonnam paal) to a rolling boil, turned off the flame, and soaked the ada in it for 15 mins. You can just use water for this, no need for coconut milk at this stage.

3. Next, add the thin coconut milk to the ada and cook until it turns soft. The mixture will turn a gloopy (in a nice way) and thicken. This took about 12 mins or so for the ada we used.

4. Add the melted jaggery to this and simmer for another 5-10 mins. You only need to stir it occasionally, not continuously.

5. While the above mixture bubbles away, let's prep the coconut pieces, raisins, and cashews. Heat the ghee and roast the coconut pieces first until completely darkened. You have to make sure it's totally brown and almost-black.

6. Drain the coconut pieces and add the cashew nuts and raisins. Roast until golden brown and drain.

7. Getting back to our simmering payasam, add in the thick coconut milk at this point, mix once and turn off the flame. Don't boil the payasam after this, otherwise the coconut milk will curdle.

9. Almost done! Add the spice powders - cardamom, dry ginger, cumin - long with the roasted coconut, raisins and cashews and the ghee used to roast them in. Mix well and let the payasam sit for a bit for the flavours to mingle and settle.

Notes:
- The Kerala jaggery we used is a much darker colour and unsalted. This works best for ada pradhaman but if you can't find it where you live, use the regular jaggery
- To adjust sweetness levels if necessary, add coconut milk or sugar according to which way you want to go
- Make your own coconut milk. It makes the payasam taste that much better
- We used and prefer and rice ada but you can also use flour ada to make ada pradhaman. Follow package instructions to cook them since different types and brands of ada require different cooking times

Palada Pradhaman Recipe - Kerala Palada Payasam Recipe for Onam, Vishu

Ada Pradhaman is probably my favourite payasam recipe after Parippu Payasam popularly made during the Onam festival and served for Onam Sadya. You can make Ada Pradhaman with milk (and so called Palada Pradhaman) or with coconut milk and jaggery which I prefer to milk-based payasams. However, Palada Pradhaman is easier and quicker to make than jaggery-based Ada Pradhaman so hope this is a useful payasam recipe for Vishu and Onam for you folks.

Ada Pradhaman involves cooking ada pieces in the base of your choice and adding the necessary spices to flavour it up. Traditionally, this ada is made from scratch but now you get to buy them readymade in the stores and that's what I did. You get two types of ada - ada made with maida or plain flour and ada made with rice flour. Amma recommended the rice flour ada so that's what I used. The maida ada becomes more pasty and thickens your pradhaman a bit giving it a different consistency. What kind you use is entirely up to you.

Uncooked Rice Ada for Palada Pradhaman

Since Payasam is a necessary part of any Kerala sadya, it's good to have some quick and easy payasam recipes in your repertoire. Amma usually makes some payasam for Vishu along with some basic sadya dishes.

While you can make Ada Pradhaman in a pressure cooker and add condensed milk for added taste and quicker cooking, I made this the slower way by reducing milk in an open pot because I had time and that's what the way to make a perfect batch of Palada Pradhaman taste the best.

Check out 6 more Easy Payasam Recipes for Vishu

PALADA PRADHAMAN RECIPE: KERALA-STYLE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe Source: Amma

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of ada (I used store-bought rice ada)
• 500 ml of milk
• 250 ml of water
• 1/2 cup of sugar (adjust to taste)
• 4 pods of cardamom, crushed
• 2 tsp of ghee
• 10 cashew nuts
• 10 raisins

How to Make Palada Pradhaman:

1. Check the package instructions on how to cook the ada for pradhaman. Generally, you need to par-boil it in boiling water for about 3-4 mins and then drain and set side before proceeding.

Make sure our ada pieces are not too large. If they are, break them into smaller pieces for quicker cooking.

2. Add the milk and water to a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to boil. Add the semi-cooked ada and simmer on low flame stirring frequently.

In about 15-20 mins, it will reduce to half the quantity. Continue to stir and cook the payasam.

4. Soon you will see the ada starting to show on the surface of the payasam. This will depend on the size of the pan you are using so don't go by this along, just make sure the milk is reduced to more than half of original quantity and the ada is soft.

Add sugar at this stage and mix well (I use raw sugar for all my cooking and drinks but white sugar works perfect too).

5. Cook for another 3-4 mins and switch off flame. Add the crushed cardamom and mix well. Remove from stove and set aside.

6. Heat the ghee in a small pan and add the cashew nuts and raisins. Fry until the nuts turn golden brown and add to the payasam. Stir well to combine.

Serve Palada Pradhaman warm or cold. I like it chilled.

Notes:

1. You can add the milk + water + washed ada + condensed milk in a pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles to make the process faster. If the payasam is still too watery, cook in an open pan until desired thickness is reached. Then add cardamom powder and ghee + nuts, etc. This is a quick method for making palada pradhaman in pressure cooker
2. The raisins and cashew nuts are optional but recommended. Don't skip the cardamom though

Gajar ki Kheer-Carrot Kheer (Payasam)-Diwali Sweets Recipes

Gajar ki Kheer is not as popular as Gajar ka Halwa so as I was looking for sweets (dessert) recipe ideas for a Diwali potluck party and had finally zeroed in on Gajar ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa). I bought carrots and extra milk in preparation for the day and that's when I happened to chat with Jey. I told her my plans and she made a pretty wise observation - to make carrot halwa for 8 people, I would need a lot of carrots since they cook down a lot!

She gave a solution too - carrot kheer! It sounded like a great idea and I can use the ingredients in hand too. Win!

The kheer turned out really good and there was just enough for 8 people. Carrot Kheer is a great idea for Diwali dessert especially if you are having guests/family over or invited to a Diwali potluck party.

Gajar ki Kheer-Carrot Kheer (Payasam)-Diwali Sweets Recipes

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves 8
Adapted from: Jeyashri's Kitchen

Ingredients:
500 gm of carrots
1 litre of milk
2 tbsp of ghee
A few of cashew nuts / almonds / pistachios (whatever you have in hand)
A few of raisins
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of powdered cardamom
1/3 cup of condensed milk

How I Made It:

1. Set aside one cup milk and add the rest to a heavy-bottomed pan (I used my pressure cooker pan). Bring to boil and add the sugar. Continue to simmer on low heat for 25-30 mins until the milk has reduced and thickens a bit. The colour will also change. Take care to keep stirring and don't let it burn at the bottom. Transfer to another bowl and set aside to cool.

2. Grate the carrots. Since this is hard work, I always get TH to do it :D

3. Heat the ghee in a pan and add the cashew nuts (or whatever nuts you are using) and raisins. Roast until the raisins puff up and the nuts turn golden brown. Drain and set aside.

4. Add the grated carrots to the same pan and fry for 5 mins. The colour will change slightly from orange to a dark yellow.

5. Add the carrots and the 1 cup reserved milk to the pressure cooker pan we used to reduce the milk. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles. Cool this mixture.

6. Once the cooked carrots have cooled, add a couple tablespoons to the reduced milk (if you want some bite in your carrot kheer) and blend the rest until smooth. Add the pureed carrots to the milk mixture too.

7. Top this off with the roasted nuts and raisins, powdered cardamom (I used Everest Milk Masala that Jey gave me) and condensed milk.

8. Mix well and chill before serving. You can top it off with some slivered almonds while serving for an extra bite. I didn't add as much sugar as I've mentioned in the recipe here so the carrot kheer was milder and quite delicious. I will definitely be making this again.

I am just back from a 2-week vacation to Kerala and my sis got me three wooden boards all prepped for food photography. I clicked the carrot kheer on one of them and love the effect. You will definitely be seeing more of these boards in my pictures :) Thanks sis!

What dessert is cooking at your place for Diwali (Deepavali) this year?

8 Easy Payasam Recipes for Onam | Onam Recipes

With Onam 2012 just around the corner, thought it may be useful if I shared a few easy payasam recipes you can make for Onam sadya. This collection is from me and my sis who blogs at Spicy Chilly.

1. Paal Payasam

2. Aval Payasam 

3. Kadala Parippu Payasam

4. Ada Pradhaman

5. Cherupayar Parippu Payasam (Split Moong Dal Payasam)

6. Cherupayar Payasam (Whole Green Gram Payasam)

7. Semiya Payasam (my version)

8. Semiya Payasam (my sis's version)

Paal Payasam Recipe | Milk & Rice Payasam | Onam Recipes

Paal Payasam is a special treat meant for special people. Not the express kind that we make these days, adding the 3-4 ingredients in a pressure cooker but the traditional, slow-cooked paal payasam made with the raw red rice that's quintessentially Keralan called unakkalari in Malayalam - but you can also use Rose Matta rice or any other non-sticky rice for the paal payasam.

Paal payasam made traditionally will have a pink hue from the rice used. Ok, don't look for the colour in my payasam picture because we used regular rice this time.

Onam is always a nostalgic time for me because Kerala is at its best then. There's the smell of fresh coconut oil being heated for all the banana chips, banana leaves gleaming in the sun, the rains just checked and the heat manageable, flowers everywhere and athappoo designs being planned, women walking around in the traditional Kerala set sari days before and after the day, school vacation after first term... I could go on.

So let me shut up for now and give you the Paal Payasam Recipe already!

Paal Payasam Recipe / Rice Kheer Recipe

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves 4-6
Recipe source: amma (payasam in picture made by bedhamma, her sis)

Ingredients:
500 ml (2 cups) of milk
1/2 cup of sugar (adjust to taste)
1/4 cup of unakkalari / raw rice (or any non-sticky rice like basmati)

How to Make Paal Payasam:

1. Add 2 cups water to the milk and bring to boil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Once the milk boils, add the sugar and simmer until it reduces to half.

2. Add the washed rice and continue to cook on very low flame, stirring frequently until the milk thickens further and the rice is cooked soft.

3. Remove and serve warm / chilled.

Notes:

• For a quick paal payasam (rice kheer), just add all ingredients (don't add water) to a pressure cooker and cook for 2-3 whistles. When the pressure leaves, open the lid, add 2-4 tbsp of condensed milk and bring to boil before removing from fire and serving. Adjust sugar accordingly since the condensed milk will make it too sweet if you use the same amount of sugar used otherwise
• Adding anything else to the payasam like cardamom pods or cashew nuts will distract you from the actual flavour that's meant to be pure milk so keep it simple folks

Kadala Parippu Payasam-Kadalai Paruppu-Channa Dal Payasam | Onam Recipes

Payasam is made typical Kerala-Style for Onam is a beautiful thing. Amma makes payasam as easily as she makes a regular dish and most often, all you need to do is ask for it. The Onam Sadya is obviously incomplete with payasam and we often make two payasams for any Kerala sadya. I love payasam made with jaggery more than milk-based ones. I love the rich, dense sweetness jaggery gives to pretty much anything and the dark, unsalted mounds of jaggery you get in Kerala are quite a treat.

As we roll into yet another Onam that I am not home for, let me at least share a payasam recipe that reminds me of home - and Onam. Amma and I made this together when she was visiting me in May. She brought some jaggery back from Kerala and we used coconut milk powder to make the base of the payasam. She did wildly protest against using the powder and was all set to extract fresh coconut milk but I wanted her to spend more in the living room couch with me than with the coconut in the kitchen!

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Kadalai Paruppu Payasam / Channa Dal Payasam (Onam Recipes)

by Nags August-21-2012

A simple payasam recipe for Onam (or any festival) using Channa dal, jaggery, and coconut milk.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup channa dal / kadalai paruppu
• 1 cup grated jaggery
• 3 cups coconut milk
• 2-3 green cardamom pods, powdered
• 1/4 tsp jeera /cumin + dry ginger / chukku, powdered together
• 1/4 cup ghee
• 10 cashew nuts
• 10 raisins
• A few pieces coconut pieces / thenga kothu

Instructions:

1. Pressure cook the channa dal with 4 cups water until mushy (3-4 whistles). The channa dal will crumble on crushing between fingers but won't turn mushy fully. This is perfect. 2. Add grated jaggery to 1 cup water, heat, and mix until dissolved. Then, add this to the pressure cooked channa dal and bring to boil.3. To this, add the powdered cardamom and jeera-dry ginger mixture. Let this simmer for about 2-3 mins.4. Add coconut milk and before it comes to boil, remove from fire and set aside.5. Heat ghee and add the coconut pieces. When it starts to turn brown, add the cashew nuts and raisins. When they turn golden brown, dunk the entire thing into the prepared payasam. 6. Serve hot or chilled

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 40 mins     Yield: 6 servings

Step by Step Pictures for Kadalai Paruppu Payasam / Channa Dal Payasam

- Pressure cook the channa dal with 4 cups water until mushy (3-4 whistles). The channa dal will crumble on crushing between fingers but won't turn mushy fully. This is perfect. Add jaggery to the pressure cooked channa dal and bring to boil.

2. To this, add the powdered cardamom and jeera-dry ginger mixture. Let this simmer for about 2-3 mins.

- Add coconut milk and before it comes to boil, remove from fire and set aside.

- Heat ghee and add the coconut pieces. When it starts to turn brown, add the cashew nuts and raisins. When they turn golden brown, dunk the entire thing into the prepared payasam.

Channa Dal Payasam can be served hot or chilled. I like it either ways although one-day-old chilled payasam holds a special place in my heart. When serving this for Onam Sadya, prepare first thing in the morning and serve warm at the end of the meal.

Also check out Cherupayar Payasam Recipe, Palada Pradhaman, and more Payasam Recipes for Onam. 

Notes:

- My mom adds the jaggery ball directly in water, brings it to boil, let's it dissolve, and then strains it before use. I grate the jaggery first because it's easier to measure that way. As always, adjust sweetness levels to your liking. The Kerala brown jaggery tends to have impurities so straining it before use is recommended. 

- We used coconut milk powder and followed measurement instructions on the packet to make our coconut milk. If using canned or fresh, measure out 2 cups of thick coconut milk and 1 cup of thinner (add water if using canned) coconut milk for the payasam.