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Home » Asian » Indian

Published: Sep 2, 2013 · Modified: Jul 30, 2020 by Sandhya Ramakrishnan · This post may contain affiliate links

Akkaravadisal | A traditional Sweet made with rice and sugar candy

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Akkaravadisal is a delicious and rich dessert made with rice cooked in milk and then simmered in syrup made with sugar candy. This dessert is perfect to celebrate the special occasion or for festivals.
 
Akkaravadisal

Today we are beginning the month long Mega Marathon and the theme is going to be A-Z recipes. To make the month even more exciting we have to make the recipes within 4 specific categories. So as I go along I would be mentioning the category the recipe belongs to. I am beginning the grand marathon with a traditional South Indian sweet Akkaravadisal. Also known as Kalkandu Bhaath or kalkandu saadham, this sweet is sweetened using sugar candy instead of regular sugar or jaggery. If kalkandu is not available, you could also substitute regular white sugar for this recipe.

Akkaravadisal holds very dear to my heart. I want to share a little bit about how I was introduced to this sweet in my childhood. We lived in Northern India when I was pretty young. At that time, our distant relative introduced us to a mami who did not have any family of her own. So my parents asked her to come and live with us.

My dad who is an electrical engineer was always away for his job (even now we hardly get to see him) and my mom was pretty much all by herself in an unknown place raising me. So this mami’s arrival was a very welcome change for our family.

Gnanam mami was a very talented cook and she made some beautiful recipes that I still cannot forget. She was the one who first made this sweet for us. My mother learned the recipe from her and ever since whenever she has to bribe me with something she would offer to make this for me and I readily accepted her offer. My only clause would be that I would want a room full of akkaravadisal instead of a bowlful.

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Gnanam mami is not with us anymore. I still remember her very close to my heart and I am glad that she could see my son before she passed away. This recipe is also a tribute to this very lovely woman who came into our life and made a mark on everyone.

Akkaravadisal 1

Preparation time – 20 mins
Cooking time – 1 ½ hrs
Difficulty level – medium

Ingredients – serves 8-10

  • Rice – 1 cup
  • Kalkandu/Sugar candy – 2 cups
  • Sugar (regular) – ¼ cup
  • Milk – 2 cups
  • Water – 1 ½ cup
  • Ghee/clarified butter – 4 tbsp
  • Saffron strands – ½ tsp
  • Cashews and raisins – for garnish

Procedure –

  • Fry the rice in about a teaspoon of ghee until reddish in color.
frying the rice
Akkaravadisal %%
  • Wash the rice well and then add the milk and water and cook it in the pressure cooker until soft and mushy. This could take a while to cook, so leave it on for at least 6 -7 whistles. Once the rice is cooked, mash it well with a masher or a wooden spoon.
cooked and mashed rice
  • In a heavy bottom pan, add the kalkandu, sugar and ½ cup of water. Let it come to boil and then simmer until it reaches single thread consistency syrup.
sugar crystals in water
sugar Syrup
  • Now add the cooked and mashed rice to the syrup and mix well so that there are no lumps. Add about 2 tablespoon of ghee and mix well.
mashed rice in sugar syrup
  • Add the saffron strands and let the akkaravadisal simmer for couple of minutes.
saffron added to akkaravadisal
  • In the meantime, fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and add this to the akkaravadisal.
  • This can be offered to god as neivedhyam for any festive occasion.
  • Serve hot or warm or in room temperature.

Expert Notes and FAQ's

  • Frying the rice patiently until reddish brown brings out a lot of flavor. So don't skip this step.
  • Using sugar crystals also known as kalkandu gives the dessert a very distinct flavor. We can substitute regular white sugar if the sugar candy is not available. 

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Akkaravadisal

Akkaravadisal – A Traditional Sweet Made With Rice And Sugar Candy

Akkaravadisal is a delicious and rich dessert made with rice cooked in milk and then simmered in syrup made with sugar candy. This dessert is perfect to celebrate the special occasion or for festivals.
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: South Indian
Diet: Vegetarian
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 324kcal
Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Rice
  • 2 cups Kalkandu/Sugar candy
  • ¼ cup Sugar regular – ¼ cup
  • 2 cups Milk
  • 1 ½ cup Water
  • 4 tablespoon Ghee/clarified butter
  • ½ teaspoon Saffron strands
  • Cashews and raisins – for garnish

Instructions

  • Fry the rice in about a teaspoon of ghee until reddish in color.
  • Wash the rice well and then add the milk and water and cook it in the pressure cooker until soft and mushy. This could take a while to cook, so leave it on for at least 6 -7 whistles. Once the rice is cooked, mash it well with a masher or a wooden spoon.
  • In a heavy bottom pan, add the kalkandu, sugar and ½ cup of water. Let it come to boil and then simmer until it reaches single thread consistency syrup.
  • Now add the cooked and mashed rice to the syrup and mix well so that there are no lumps. Add about 2 tablespoon of ghee and mix well.
  • Add the saffron strands and let the akkaravadisal simmer for couple of minutes.
  • In the meantime, fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and add this to the akkaravadisal.
  • Serve hot or warm or in room temperature.

Notes

Expert Notes and FAQ's
  • Frying the rice patiently until reddish brown brings out a lot of flavor. So don't skip this step.
  • Using sugar crystals also known as kalkandu gives the dessert a very distinct flavor. We can substitute regular white sugar if the sugar candy is not available. 

Nutrition

Calories: 324kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 24mg | Potassium: 86mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 79IU | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @Sandhya.Ramakrishnan or tag #MyCookingJourney!

Come back tomorrow to see what is cooking for Alphabet B!

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 32

« Aavani Aavattam - Upakarma Special Recipes
Milagai, Kathirikkai And Kodaimilagai Bajji | Fritters »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Saraswathi Tharagaram says

    October 01, 2013 at 2:19 pm

    This looks so good and tempting me a lot have some right away..

    Reply
  2. Archana Potdar says

    September 09, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    Looks awesome. This is a new recipe to me and I am a South Indian. Goes to say we have so many recipes that half of them we are unaware of. I am bookmarking this recipe for my use later.

    Reply
  3. vaishali sabnani says

    September 05, 2013 at 9:34 am

    Looks divine...totally new for me...

    Reply
  4. veena krishnakumar says

    September 04, 2013 at 6:12 pm

    super akkaravadisal...love to have some now:-)

    Reply
  5. Rajani S says

    September 04, 2013 at 10:05 am

    Liked your tribute to Gnanam mami! Recipes with stories/memories behind it are always nice to read 🙂

    Reply
  6. Priya R says

    September 03, 2013 at 5:30 am

    looks so yum 🙂 and makes me crave for that bowl right away

    Reply
  7. Gayathri Kumar says

    September 03, 2013 at 10:05 am

    Love this. Akkaravadisil looks super delicious and the step wise pictures are very nice...

    Reply
  8. Sandhya Karandikar says

    September 03, 2013 at 5:47 am

    Any sort of kheer is a favourite in my family. This loss delicious.

    Reply
    • Sandhya Karandikar says

      September 23, 2013 at 11:09 am

      Sorry it should read this looks delicious.

      Reply
  9. Suma Gandlur says

    September 03, 2013 at 3:20 am

    Yummy one. If i am not wrong, is it same as kalkandu sadam ?

    Reply
  10. Sreevalli E says

    September 02, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    Yummy dish.. People come and go in our lives but some leave a mark on our hearts...

    Reply
  11. hanseata says

    September 03, 2013 at 1:38 am

    Interesting recipe and nice story, reminding me of my grandmother, who was a great cook.

    Reply
  12. Janani says

    September 02, 2013 at 11:55 pm

    Learning from some one dear to me always has this special memory in our life no matter if they are there in our life but they lessons taught by them always stay so nice to see u learn this amazing recipe from ur maami never made it before will def bookmark it.

    Reply
  13. Nivedhanams Sowmya says

    September 02, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    Delicious and drool worthy!!! love your writing about mami!!!

    Sowmya

    Reply
  14. Manjula Bharath says

    September 02, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    looks super delicious and yummy dear 🙂 great sweet to start BM !! 🙂 tempting me badly !!

    Reply
  15. Foodiliciousnan says

    September 02, 2013 at 6:28 pm

    I love akkaravadisal. It looks very tempting and Im not surprised your mom used this as a bait to get you to agree with her! And yes, at different points in time we meet people who influence us deeply. Good to read about Gnanam mami.

    Reply
  16. K.S Parthasarathy says

    September 02, 2013 at 6:25 pm

    I have always enjoyed and cherish the one made by my grand mother..and ..this is a good idea..to post one a day..looking forward..I will wait to see if I have a something unique in my quiver

    Reply
  17. Priya Suresh says

    September 02, 2013 at 5:40 pm

    Makes me nostalgic, Akkaravadisal is in my to do list since a long,dunno when am gonna make, droolworthy dish.

    Reply
  18. Chef Mireille says

    September 02, 2013 at 3:10 pm

    looks sweet and delighful

    Reply
  19. Padmajha PJ says

    September 02, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    Nice to read about the maami. And this is something on my to-do list for a long long time. Looks so good Sandhya 🙂

    Reply
  20. Srivalli says

    September 02, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    I love this Sandhya..and yours is looking so perfect!..looking fwd to the rest..

    Reply
  21. Pavani N says

    September 02, 2013 at 2:07 pm

    Awesome post Sandhya. Loved reading about Gnanam mami, made the recipe even more special 🙂
    Dish looks sweet and finger licking good.. yummy!!

    Reply
  22. Preeti Garg says

    September 02, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    Wow... very new and look so yumm.

    Reply
  23. Harini-Jaya R says

    September 02, 2013 at 1:52 pm

    Good one.

    Reply
  24. Akila says

    September 02, 2013 at 11:17 am

    Looks delicious

    Reply
  25. Subha Subramanian says

    September 02, 2013 at 10:23 am

    looks Yummy !!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

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I am Sandhya Ramakrishnan, author, recipe developer and photographer in this journey! 'My Cooking Journey' is all about family friendly Vegetarian and Vegan recipes from around the World with focus on Indian cuisine.

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