Kalkandu sadham / Ksheeranam

 

This is a sweet dish which will conquer your taste buds. My mom  never prepared it at home. I tasted this dish in temples and in some marriage feasts.  Rice, ghee, milk and sugar candy (kalkandu).....should I say more about this combo :). They call this dish as ksheeranam too.  I made it for this tamil new year.  We all loved it. Hope you will love it too.

Ingredients :

Rice- 11/2 cup

Water- 5 cups

Milk- 2 cups

Sugar candy (kalkandu)- 11/2 cup (increase or decrease according to your taste)

Salt- a pinch

Cardamom- 5 nos ( powdered)

Cloves- 4 nos

Cashew nuts- 1/2 cup

Raisins- 2 tbspns

Cinnamon powder or nutmeg powder - few pinches (normally they use edible camphor (pachai karpooram) in this dish, it definitely enhances the flavour)

Ghee- 4 tbspns

Method :

Cook rice with 5 cups of water and mash it.  Now take a pan. Heat milk. Add the powdered cardamom, cloves, a pinch of salt and sugar candy to the milk. Bring it to boil. Now add the mashed rice to the milk and stir continuously until the mixture thickens. Now add 4 tbspn of ghee and cinnamon powder  or nutmeg powder and mix well. Garnish with cashews and raisins roasted in ghee. A very tasty desert will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Use pachai karpooram if available. The kalkandu should dissolve completely. Normally it dissolves quickly due to the heat. You can also add a pinch of saffron in milk bu you will not get the traditional white colour of this dish. Happy cooking !!!