August 25, 2010

Palada pradhaman from scratch ~ Kerala Special

Hope all of you who celebrate Onam had it in a grand way. This Onam, I wanted to make the most favored payasam of Kerala - Palada pradhaman. Now a days making palada isn't a big affair when you can have ready made ada packets off the shelf from stores. But I wanted to try it from scratch i.e prepare ada at home.


Traditionally the batter is spread on banana leaf and is rolled and tied with the string from the leaves itself. Then these rolled leaves are dropped in boiling water and cooked. The adai is peeled from the leaves and cut into pieces. I was thinking of doing it the same way. But I haven't seen this myself and all I have is the theoretical knowledge of it. Just before making, called my amma to clear my doubts. My sister picked up the call and I said the reason for my calling and she was like I am enough to clear your doubts. And she told she she has made ada twice from scratch. She suggested me to use the vadam stand which will be easier to manage.

Preparing the ada

You need

Raw rice flour - 1 cup

Salt a pinch


Method

Soak rice for 5 hours or overnight.Grind to a smooth paste with a pinch of salt. The batter should not be very runny. While grinding the rice, take care not to add to much water and end up with a runny batter.
Spread the batter slightly thick on the greased plate.


Steam for 10 minutes. Remove the ada from  the plate and cut into four.


 Score into strips and chop into tiny bits.



By this time, the ada would have dried a bit and it will not be sticky. Transfer the bits to plate.



Repeat the steps with the remaining batter and store the ada in the refrigerator if you are not using it right away. If you have good sunshine, you could sun dry it and store in an air tight container for a long time. 

The ada measured to 1 cups heaped.



To prepare the palada pradhaman




You need
Ada - 1 cup heaped

Sugar - 2 cups

Milk - 2 litres


Method

Usually, the ada is cooked in  a mix of water and milk , till it turns soft. Then milk is added in installments and cooked till it is thick and then sugar is added to it and it is further cooked to attain a creamy consistency. All this will take loads of time. So I tipped all the ingredients to my 7 litre  cooker and pressure cooked for one whistle and kept the heat in lowest flame and continued for another 15 minutes. By then the pressure had build up inside and milk started coming out of the pressure vent along with the whistle. I switched off the heat and left if for half an hour.


Opened the pressure cooker and went on to cook till it had a creamy consistency which took nearly an hour on medium heat. Cooking in the pressure helped to get that pink color which intensed on further cooking and could cut down the cooking time and constant stirring. Leave it for an hour or so to let the pradhaman mature the flavor further.  The test for doneness is when you pour a ladle of the pradhaman on a plate and draw a line it should not join immediately.



Tasting just one spoon of the luscious pradhaman will make you forget all the work that went into it.




20 comments:

  1. J, can you read minds??? I made this for Onam too and this is my next post.....but mine is with Double Horse ada :-)
    Using the ela vadam stand is a nice idea. The other way, from what I remember seeing is quite time consuming.

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  2. Wow,wonderful post,I love that stand very very much!! If you dont mind,can you please tell from which shop you bought that,it would be so helpful to make this as well as ela vadam... Thanks for the post,delicious payasam!

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  3. wow this authentic kerala dessert looks very inviting ...very well explained dear ..thanks for sharing

    Satya
    http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

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  4. Wowow wat a traditional dessert, that stand looks interesting and very inviting pradhaman..

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  5. Yum,yum..lovely pictures..thanks for sharing this Dear..

    Dear, I'm hosting a giveaway at my blog. if you wish you can enter to win.

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  6. wow....wat an elaborate and lovely post...very impressive clicks...thanx for this new recipe dear.

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  7. Yumm....what a wonderful dessert...Looks delicious...

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  8. Nice palada pradhaman. I love the post.

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  9. OMG..hats off to you for trying this from scratch!!I took the easier way out and bought it from Sree Krishna sweets.Looks lovely,I might try it with store bought ada:)

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  10. wow...thats an amzing post...I just loved ur tsnad dear....palada looks super amazing wid freshly made one...

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  11. I learnt making adas from a neighbour aunty in chennai, though she suggested flat plates and lesser steaming time which would call for cooking the cut bits in boiling water to cook and soften. The stand will be my next item to purchase though i wouldn't mind if they sold just two plates per stand!!! My idli, mini idli stands of six discs are a waste nowadays!!!

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  12. Mouthwatering ada pradhaman!! i love this, wish i can get a big bowl of this. for this onam my friend sent ada pradhaman to me :-)

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  13. Wow the pradhaman looks super good and the stand is simply superb.. I love this so so so much and wish i had some too...yummy!!!

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  14. Is this stand is used only for making the ada's ?

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  15. I was looking out for such a payasam post..making ada from scratch!!and here I am..:)
    I usually roll the batter in banana leaves and steam..have blogged long back too..
    Love your way, girl!!..bookmarked!

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  16. Latakka, if you will be using the ada as soon as you make it, then you could make it soft. Since I was storing it, I cooked for long time and later I pressure cooked it so got it soft easily. I'm sure you will get mini stand with fewer plates in Chennai.

    Pavithra, this stand is infact for making the ela vadam and I used it to make ada easily.

    Bharathy, I will look your version. Steaming the banana leaves must be less messy, isn't it?

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  17. Somehow i missed this post coming from Lataji's post. I have a stand for iddiappam similar but with holes. Got to try in summer!

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