Welicious Delicious: Ada Pradhman( Steamed Rice chunk kheer)

Ada Pradhman

Any Kerala Sadya,whether it's Onam sadya, Vishu sadya or a marriage sadya can't be complete without Pradhaman and amongst all Pradhamans, Ada Pradhaman tops the preference list. And I am sure every malayalee, would vouch for its unique authentic divine taste.

Ada Pradhman

We all are Ada pradhman lovers, especially my little daughter.After 2-3 trials I have somehow understood the nitty gritties of making a perfect Ada pradhman but still can't match upto my Amma's Ada pradhman, which is a must in her recipe list whenever we visit her especially during my husband's visit as he loves all kinds of Pradhmans and payasams.

The traditional Ada pradhman is prepared using the Ada prepared at home using rice flour but now due to time crunch and the availablity of ready made Ada in almost all the Kerala stores,everyone prefers to use it. And hence I too have used the Nilgiris's ada to prepare it.

Although I have used plaintain in the Ada pradhman, but one can omit using it, but banana gives a unique flavour to it .

Please do try it with plaintian/banana,I am sure you will love it...

Ingredients Quantity

Ada : 100 gms( 1 cup-Break them into small pieces as seen in the pic above)

Ripe Banana                                  : 2 small
Jaggery                                          : 250 gms( you can vary it as per taste/preference)
Coconut milk( first )                     : 2 cups( first extract)
Coconut milk ( second)                : 2 cup ( Second extract after grinding again with some water)
Coconut milk ( Third)                  : 1 cup ( Third extract with some more water)
Cardamon crushed                       : 1 tsp

For garnishing
Raisins                                           : 20 - 25( I use lots ,as my kids love it)
Cashews                                         : 10 -15

Coconut pieces : 1/4 cup
Ghee : 2-3 tsp

Preparations Method:

Grind the coconut and sequeze the paste to get the first milk extract and keep aside,now add some water to the sequezed coconut paste and grind again to get the second extract. Repeat it to get the third extract which would be very thin watery coconut milk.
Also grind the banana to paste and keep aside.
Heat a pan, boil a cup of water, add the jaggery such that its immersed completely and keep stirring till jaggery fully dissolves and strain out to remove impurities.
Meanwhile wash the ada properly and cook it in 1 cup of water for 5-10 mins, till it becomes semi soft(No need to cook it fully as it will be cooked in coconut milk and jaggery syrup).
Drain and wash it in cold water to remove its stickiness.
Now in pan add the third extract of coconut milk , 2tsp of ghee and the semi cooked ada,cook it on medium flame till the ada gets fully cooked by stirring in between.
Add the banana paste, melted jaggery and the second extract of coconut milk to the cooked ada and mix everything very well.
Now cook on low flame and stir in between and let the consistency to reduce to half the quantity.
Add the third extract of coconut milk and cook for a min or so on low flame by stirring continuously.
Add the crushed cardmoms and cover it with the lid.Remove from flame.
In a tadka pan, add 1 tsp of ghee, fry the coconut pieces, saute till it turns light brown,add cashew nuts and raisins as well and add it to the pradhman.

Serve it hot.

Notes :

For all those, who don't know what's Ada made up of : Its boiled/steamed rice chunks made up of raw rice powder and its readily available in kerala Stores as " Rice Ada".
The cooking time differs in store brought ada as it depends upon the ada type, some get cooked very fast while some take time, so be careful while cooking lest it gets overcooked.
While using home made ada, one need not cook it instead use/cook it directly in first extract of milk and jaggery, as its already steamed.
The pradhman thickens with time, so you can add little cow's milk if you intend to have it after some time , but only if required and don't heat/boil the pradhman after adding cow's milk as it may curdle.