Paal payasam (Indian pudding) to celebrate Rahman's Oscar

JAI HO! (meaning "let there be victory" in Hindi) --- This famous track in Slumdog Millionaire begins with the lovely sound of guitar, grows into an opera with a Bollywood touch and ends with the notes of Violins.The more I listen to it , the more I feel proud about Rahman.

Indian music maestro A.R.Rahman became the first Indian to bag two Oscars for his mind blowing work in "Slumdog Millionaire". He received the much-awaited Oscar on the night of the 81st Academy Awards.

He ended the acceptance speech by saying "Yella pugazhum Eraivanuke" (meaning "All praise for the Lord" in Tamil). Congrats to Rasool Pookutty as well.

Its a proud moment for every Indian and especially for Chennaites!

My humble city - Chennai was so colorful with fireworks last evening. There were proud smiles every where and Rahman's famous tracks was heard in every tea stall/auto/bus stand. There was a celebration time in Chennai.

I kept watching Rahman Oscar acceptance speech in every news channel possible and it was indeed an emotional moment for me.I wanted to celebrate this in my own style.

For the Tamilian in me : What more than a simple bowl of warm Paal Payasam will convey my happiness?



The post for today is Paal Payasam, condensed sweetened milk dessert cooked with little dash of Indian rice. Its a famous Tamil delicacy. Paal means milk in Tamil and Payasam means pudding inTamil. This recipe was taught to my mom by her sister S and its our all time favorite one for festivals and birthday celebrations.

This dessert is one of the favorite of Lord Krishna and is cooked during Janmashtami (Lord Krishna's Birthday). It is deliberately slow-cooked and involves constant stirring. The mild aroma of the cardamoms are beautifully infused into incredible rice cooked in milk.The smell of the boiling milk adds a divine smell to the kitchen air. At the end of it, I am sure its worth the wait and the silken creamy milk pudding is sure to rekindle the hidden Tamilian taste bud of yours.Slurp!




Ingredients

• 2 tsp long Indian rice (No basmati rice)
• 500ml whole milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 2-3 cardamon pods
• 8-10 saffron strands
• 10-12 roasted unsalted cashwenuts

Method

Heat the milk in a large cooking vessel and bring it to a boil. Add in the rice. Once boiled lower the flame and cook for 1 hour with constant stirring. Spoon out few rice grains and mash it with curved end of the spoon or finger. The rice should get mashed by this time and thats the right texture we want.

Now add in the sugar and cardamon and cook on a low flame for 15-20min.Garnish with saffron strands and roasted cashewnuts. Serve warm. Enjoy!

or you can follow this easy method:

Clean a cooking pan and set the lid with gasket and whistle. Clean the rice in running water.Drain the water and keep the rice aside.Pour in the whole milk along with the rice, sugar, cardamon and cook for 10-12 whistles.Switch off the flame and let it cool. Transfer it to a clean vessel. Add saffron strands and roasted cashews. Serve warm.