Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Mum's Special Coconut Milk Pidi


At times i feel the best moments in my life begin and end in a cup of coffee. that sounds like the beginning of a mumbo-jumbo. so let me snip it off right here. over to this wonderful...hmm..tea time delicacy (as it is in Kerala). but i would prefer it as a breakfast dessert; not the cold dessert but the hot one. why a breakfast dessert...i don't know. maybe as most of our traditional breakfast is rice/rice powder-based. if you have the coconut milk ready nothing can be simpler than this. and it looks so...naive and adorable when you finally get it into a bowl. it tastes wonderful only for those who like coconut milk-based dishes. and i'm yet to see someone who doesn't.

rice powder-1 cup + 1 tsp
salt-1/2 tsp
boiled water-3/4 cup (close to)
ghee-1 tbsp
grated coconut-11/2 cup (to extract the milk)
first milk of the coconut (thala pal)-1 cup
second milk-11/2 cup
sugar-1/4 cup
cardamom powder to flavour-1/2 tsp

Boil the water and add the boiling water to the rice powder. add the salt and the ghee and knead softly to make a smooth dough. make tiny balls with it (comes to around 40 balls). you can either steam the balls by way of cooking it or drop the raw balls directly into the second coconut milk and cook them in the milk. if you steam and cook then you can use the first milk alone which reduces the labour of extracting milk (that is if you're not using the readymade coconut milk to begin with). when it is almost cooked add sugar; stir to dissolve and add 1 tsp rice powder to thicken the stuff. add the first milk and a pinch of salt. do not let it boil too much as the taste reduces. after the intial boil switch it off and flavour with adequate cardamom powder. serve hot or otherwise.

You can buy readymade rice powder which is fried and stored for use. same goes for coconut milk. readymades are available and pretty good ones but for this i suggest you extract the milk by...well, breaking the coconut, grating and then extracting the milk...too cumbersome? OK then go for the readymade one and use on discretion :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

good one....also love the new look

the Junkie book said...

thanks. the templates are good. just that you need time to surf and find out. i want to have side tags: cakes, paneer, soups. so that you click on cakes all of them roll out. a moderate and simple requirement but difficult for me. i have a lovely apple cheese cake recipe coming up for you...especially for you. he he. we got house in Vandana. drama about a weeks' notice and shifting in hubby absence. i said NO. so he comes back and shifts now. isn't this sad. i would like manoj to brain wash thomas into leaving this. sigh.