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.
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.
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 tsp 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 tbsp 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.
- 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 – A Traditional Sweet Made With Rice And Sugar Candy
Ingredients
- 1 cup Rice
- 2 cups Kalkandu/Sugar candy
- ¼ cup Sugar regular – ¼ cup
- 2 cups Milk
- 1 ½ cup Water
- 4 tbsp Ghee/clarified butter
- ½ tsp Saffron strands
- Cashews and raisins – for garnish
Instructions
- Fry the rice in about a tsp 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 tbsp 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
- 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
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
Saraswathi Tharagaram says
This looks so good and tempting me a lot have some right away..
Archana Potdar says
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.
vaishali sabnani says
Looks divine...totally new for me...
veena krishnakumar says
super akkaravadisal...love to have some now:-)
Rajani S says
Liked your tribute to Gnanam mami! Recipes with stories/memories behind it are always nice to read 🙂
Priya R says
looks so yum 🙂 and makes me crave for that bowl right away
Gayathri Kumar says
Love this. Akkaravadisil looks super delicious and the step wise pictures are very nice...
Sandhya Karandikar says
Any sort of kheer is a favourite in my family. This loss delicious.
Sandhya Karandikar says
Sorry it should read this looks delicious.
Suma Gandlur says
Yummy one. If i am not wrong, is it same as kalkandu sadam ?
Sreevalli E says
Yummy dish.. People come and go in our lives but some leave a mark on our hearts...
hanseata says
Interesting recipe and nice story, reminding me of my grandmother, who was a great cook.
Janani says
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.
Nivedhanams Sowmya says
Delicious and drool worthy!!! love your writing about mami!!!
Sowmya
Manjula Bharath says
looks super delicious and yummy dear 🙂 great sweet to start BM !! 🙂 tempting me badly !!
Foodiliciousnan says
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.
K.S Parthasarathy says
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
Priya Suresh says
Makes me nostalgic, Akkaravadisal is in my to do list since a long,dunno when am gonna make, droolworthy dish.
Chef Mireille says
looks sweet and delighful
Padmajha PJ says
Nice to read about the maami. And this is something on my to-do list for a long long time. Looks so good Sandhya 🙂
Srivalli says
I love this Sandhya..and yours is looking so perfect!..looking fwd to the rest..
Pavani N says
Awesome post Sandhya. Loved reading about Gnanam mami, made the recipe even more special 🙂
Dish looks sweet and finger licking good.. yummy!!
Preeti Garg says
Wow... very new and look so yumm.
Harini-Jaya R says
Good one.
Akila says
Looks delicious
Subha Subramanian says
looks Yummy !!!!!!!!!!!