NENDRA PAZHAM PRADHAMAN

 NENDRA PAZHAM PRADHAMAN

I am delighted to share with you that today, March 21, 2021 happens to be the 8th anniversary of my blog. I would like to thank you my family, friends and followers of this blog, for your continued encouragement and support for "Cooking With Shobana" since I started this in 2013.  

The blog allows me to follow my passion for cooking. To learn new dishes and share them through this medium. By God's grace, my blog has received over 3.21 million hits so far and has over 18900 followers on Facebook. 

When my husband encouraged me to start this blog in 2013, I never imagined it would reach this level of featuring in The Best Food Blogs of India from the reputed Indian Bloggers website. I am grateful to Shri Ganesha for his blessing. 

Today's recipe called Nendra Parzham Pradhaman is for a dessert made with ripe Nendra Pazham, a speciality banana of Kerala. Pradhaman is a popular dessert made for festivals in Kerala though it involves a lot of work! Usually, coconut milk (both thick and medium/thin) is first extracted to make this dish. These days this is available in Tetrapacks too! The amount of jaggery added will depend upon the sweetness of the ripe bananas used, and of course, your individual taste. The colour of the Pradhaman will vary with the amount and color of the jaggery used. I have added cardamom powder for flavour but have not added dry ginger powder. 

 I have adapted this from Nendra Pazham Pradhaman in Radhika's Tickling Palates website.

We enjoyed this very much and hope you will- too! 

Ingredients:-

• Nendra Pazham ( Ripe Bananas) , 2
• Thick Coconut Milk, (first extract), 1 cup
• Medium Coconut Milk, (next extract),  1 and 1/2 cups
• Jaggery, grated, 3/4 to 1 cup
• Ghee, 4 tbsp
• Cashewnuts, 8-10, 
• Coconut Slivers, 2 tbsp
• Cardmom Powder, 1/2  tsp

Preparatory Work:-

Wash the Nendra Pazham and snip off the ends. Cut them into 2-3 pieces depending upon the size of the bananas. Place the cut banana pieces in a steamer and steam them for about 10 minutes or till they fully done. Allow them to cool and peel off the skin. 

Grind them to a pulp in a mixer jar without adding any water. 

Cut a piece of the coconut and cut into slivers. Keep aside. 

Break the cashewnuts into halves. Keep aside. 

Extract the coconut milk, first thick and then thin and keep aside. ** Process for extracting coconut milk given below 

Heat the grated jaggery in a pan on medium flame adding 2 tbsp of water. Mix till the jaggery dissolves fully. Switch off the flame and strain the jaggery syrup through a strainer and keep aside. 

Method :- 

Heat a thick bottomed pan and add 3 tbsp of ghee. Once it melts add the cooked Nendra Pazham pulp and mix well. Cook for about 5 minutes stirring continuously on medium/low flame. 

To this add the prepared jaggery syrup, mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes 

Now add the second or medium/thin coconut milk, mix and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring continuously  till the mixture thickens- take care to see that it doesn't get burnt at the bottom 

Next add the first or thick coconut milk and mix well 

Cook the pradhaman for 2 minutes on low flame then switch off the gas

(Please note that at this stage you should not cook on high heat or for too long as the thick extract could curdle) 

In a small pan heat 1 tbsp of ghee

On medium heat add the broken cashew nuts and roast them till they turn golden in colour. Keep aside

In the same pan, add the coconut slivers and sauté till they turn golden brown. Keep aside. 

Finally, add the roasted cashewnuts and coconut slivers to the pradhaman along with the cardamom powder and mix well 

Keep the pradhaman covered for  a few minutes

The Nendra Pazham Pradhaman can be served hot immediately or served later after it is chilled as per your choice.

** Extracting The Coconut Milk: 

Take a medium-sized coconut. Break it and keep the coconut water aside. Scrape the coconut gratings and grind them well in a mixer jar with 1 cup of water. Next, filter this coconut pulp through a sieve or through a muslin cloth. This gives you the first or thick coconut milk extract.

Place back the coconut gratings pulp  in the mixer, add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and grind once again. Repeat the filtering process to get the second/medium/thin coconut milk extract.