Coconut Milk – Prepare different sets of coconut milk as per the instructions given in tips section. Use either fresh coconut milk or store bought packet coconut milk.
Ada or Rice Pasta – Wash the ada in water until it rinses off clear, drain and keep aside. Boil about 2 liters of water in a heavy bottom pan. Once it starts boiling, add the washed ada and cook until it turns soft (should be soft to mash between fingers). Drain and rinse the cooked ada under cold water (to prevent over cooking and sticking) and keep aside.
Cook Sago Pearls – Wash sago pearls in water and soak with enough water for 15-30 minutes. Drain and keep it ready to boil. Boil about 1.5 cups water in a heavy bottom pan and add the soaked and drained sabudana. Boil until the sabudana becomes swollen and translucent. Turn off flame and keep it aside.
Jaggery Syrup – Boil jaggery with ½ cup water in a heavy bottom pan. Once it starts boiling and jaggery has melted, remove from the gas stove and strain it to remove the impurities. Keep the jaggery syrup aside. Use dark jaggery to get good dark colour for the pradhaman.
Cooking Ada with Jaggery – Heat a big heavy bottomed pan (approx 5 litre capacity), add1 tbsp ghee, then pour melted jaggery int to the pan. Once, it starts boiling, add the cooked and rinsed ada, mix well. Keep stirring, now the mix will become thin. Keep boiling on medium flame, stirring continuously. It is a little long process. Make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom or burns. Once it is very thick, all the water will be evaporated and then it will be in a gooey form. Now add 2 tbsp ghee. Mix it well, stir continuously for another few minutes until it is very thick and jaggery is melted, blend well with ada and turned dark colour.
Add 3rd extract of coconut milk – Slowly and gradually add third extract or thin coconut milk into this mixture. Mix and blend it well. Add sago along with the cooked (left over) water. Mix well, the mixture has again turned thin now. Boil, stirring continuously to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan. Boil on medium flame until it turns thick.
Add the 2nd extract of coconut milk – Add the semi thick or 2nd extract of coconut milk. Mostly, this semi thick coconut milk is added when ada is almost cooked. Now again, the mixture is loosened. Bring it to boil, stir continuously and cook on medium flame until it is thick again.
Add the 1st extract of coconut milk – Once the ada and sago are cooked well and when the mixture starts to condense, finally add the 1st extract of coconut milk and turn off the flame. Add dry ginger powder and cardamom powder (or crushed cardamoms). Stir and mix well. Keep it covered for 5-10 minutes for the flavours to blend in the pradhaman.
Tempering – Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan, fry thin coconut pieces, cashews and kismis until light brown. You can also fry it advance and keep aside while cooking pradhaman. Add fried cashew nuts, kismis and fried coconut pieces along with the tempered ghee. Mix it well with the pradhaman. Cover and keep again for 5-10 minutes before serving. Open and stir occasionally (to avoid skin formation on top while cooling) until it is at room temperature. Flavours and aroma is stabilized and tastes better once it cools down.
Ada Pradhaman Ready - This yields about 2.5 – 3 litres of pradhaman and can be served for about 12-15 people normally. During sadyas, if one more dessert is there, we can serve this much quantity for up to 25-30 people. The perfect consistency for the ada pradhaman is : - if it is poured on banana leaf or plate, it would stay there without running watery. Usually, the pradhaman thickens as it rests, so adjust the consistency accordingly using the quantity of first extract of coconut milk before turning off the flame.
Notes
MEASURING TOOLS USED : 240 ml cup, 15 ml tablespoon and 5 ml teaspoon.