PALADA PAYASAM
Rich and delicious dessert prepared using rice flakes,milk
and sugar.Ingredients:
Homemade ada,/coked ada,cut into very small pieces- 1 to 1.5 Cups(If you are using store bought ada ,use about 100 gms.For best results, use rice ada.)
Ghee - 3 tsp
Water - 4 cups( 1 ltr)
Milk - 4 cups( 1 ltr)
Sugar - 1cup( 200 gms or to taste)
Sugar,for caramel - 1 tbsp( optional)
Salt - 1 pinch
How to prepare:
Heat ghee in a pan,add water and bring it to a boil.
Once it starts to boil,add milk .
Add 1/4 cup sugar and cook over medium heat,stirring continuously until it comes to a boil.
Reduce the flame to medium low and cook till the volume is
reduced to half( i.e 1 Ltr) and slightly thick ,for about 45 minutes.Stir well
in between to avoid burning.Next add homemade ada and mix well.(If you are
using store bought ada,soak 100 gms ada in hot water for 30 minutes.Cook it
until soft and wash using cold water to remove the stickiness,drain and add it
to the reduced/thickened milk).Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes over medium low flame or until you
see ada-flakes on the surface of the payasam.
Now add the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and mix well.(Start with
1/2 cup sugar and add more according to your taste.).Cook for another 5 minutes
or until the payasam turns slightly thick.Switch off the stove and transfer the
payasam to a serving bowl after about 10
minutes.
Optional Steps-Traditionally ,while making palada pradhaman
the quantity of water used is double the quantity of milk.i.e 2 Ltrs of water
for 1 Ltr milk.The water ,milk( 2 Ltr water + 1Ltr milk) and 1/4 of the total
sugar mixture is cooked until it is reduced to 30% of the initial quantity .i.e approx 900ml.When the
water evaporates completely the colour of the milk changes to a pale pink.This
may take almost 3 to 4 hours.However here i have reduced the quantity of water
to 1 Ltr in order to cut down the cooking time and hence ,i could get only a
pale cream colour ,as you can see in the picture above.In order to obtain the
desired pale pink colour, caramel syrup can be added to the payasam.However the
following steps are completely optional.
In a pan,melt 1.5 to 2 tbsp sugar .Gently swirl the pan for
even cooking.Cook over medium low heat until it turns deep amber.( make sure you do not burn it,or else payasam will turn bitter)Next add 1/4 cup hot water and mix well until combined.Switch off the stove and allow it to cool completely.
Add this caramel syrup to the payasam,starting with 2
tablespoons and add more as required.Mix well until combined.
Here you can see the colour difference before and after
adding the caramel sauce.