Thursday, October 25, 2007

Masala Paal

Today is the last day for the saffron event and I wanted to be a part of it. Until yesterday night I had no clue of what to do. Then, when I was talking to my parents in India they told me that they were in Saravana Bhavan restaurant drinking masala paal after dinner. Yeah...I found an entry for the event. I asked my mom for the recipe and went to the kitchen to prepare it right away.
This masala paal is just not milk and saffron. It has to be prepared in a certain way and drunk while it's still hot(temperature that you can tolerate). It's believed to induce sleep. So, my dear friends go ahead and have some masala paal tonight and let me know if the sleep thing is true.


Ingredients:
Whole Milk- 2 cups
Rock sugar- 1 1/2 tbsp (can reduce or add more as per taste. But the actual dish should not have too much sugar. Just enough to sweeten the milk. Still, I prefer mine sweet)
saffron- 1 generous pinch (I mean it generous)
badam- 5 or badam powder- 1/2 tbsp
saarai paruppu- l/2 tsp (I do not know the english name for it. This is a dry fruit too)
cardamom- 1
clove-1
pistachio slices- for garnish(I used this as I did not have saarai paruppu)

Procedure:
If you are using fresh badam, soak it in hot boiling water for atleast 3 hrs and grind it to a smooth paste. Boil the milk with cardamom and clove until it reduces to half the quantity. Then add rock sugar and dissolve it completely. I used the small white rock sugar here. Now add ground badam or badam powder and saffron. Stir it well until it gets the nice yellow color. Finally add saarai paruppu roasted in (few drops of ghee). I did not have it so I used pista slices here. Switch off gas.
To cool it a bit, tranfer the milk between two vessels and make it frothy. I don't know how to explain this part. We call it "aatharathu" in tamil. Finally serve it with some cardamom powder on top.
Enjoy guys and have a nice sleep. Sweet dreams.zzzz....

22 comments:

FH said...

Badami Haalu, as we call it with little Saarai etc which I don't know! Looks delicious. Great entry Kribha!:))

sunita said...

That's such a lovely entry...thanks for sending it over...really glad you could make it in time :)

Finla said...

Excelent Entry. I love going to sarvana in Madras. Not been there for ages as my sis is not living there anymore. But last time i when i was in Delhi there was one there and i almost visited every 2 days to the place till we were there.

Rina said...

During college days, always fan of Badam Kesar Pal(milk).

Swaruchy said...

Kribha....the glass of milk looks very very tempting....this is unfair.....I want to taste it.....u r so far from me........waaaaaaaaah

indosungod said...

Kribha, that is one delicious warm drink, looking at it makes me warm and cozy. I am going to making it soon.

Rajitha said...

yumm...kribha..what a lovely recipe..and as for inducing sleep..i need something that keeps me awake..i can have strong black coffee and still sleep in 5 mts!!

Padma said...

Kribha, at last u made it to the event. I am still fondling, guess I gonna miss this event, Kya karron bahut lazy ho gayi hoon aajkal! Loved the Masala Paalu..

Laavanya said...

I love masala paal.. Looks very delicious Kribha.

Sharmi said...

pal looks very yum!

Richa said...

hey kribha, masala milk looks delicious, such a fav :)
i think the dry fruit u r talking about may be charoli/chironji, it used very often with masala milk and basundi as well.
you can check out Indira's site for the pic to confirm if it is the one u r talking about, just do a search for saara pappu and lemme' know if it is the one.

Unknown said...

Never heard of sarai paruppu. Wonder wat it is.....
Anyway, the paal looks delicious.

TBC said...

That's a nice entry for the event. Too bad I don't like milk:-(

Raks said...

Like this milk verymuch...Had once or twice only,but I dint had any idea of the recipe like whats the ingrediends and all..thanx for sharing ...and nice entry Kribha..:)
Regarding this saarai paruppu,its called melon seeds...I have seen in Mahanandi blogspot...with picture Check this link,if anyboby need....http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2005/10/02/saara-pappu/
Just underlined...will not work as a link..;)

Anonymous said...

Badam Milk looks yummy. I love almonds in milk.

Kribha said...

Hi Asha,
Thanks dear. So you call it badami Haalu in your place? Intresting. Usually I don't add badam to masala paal as it tends to resemble badam milk. But I did not have saarai parrupu. So I had to add almonds and pista.

Hi Sunitha,
Glad to have you here. I'm happy too that I made it in time. Can't wait for the round-up.

Hi HC,
Me too. Miss all that now. Hope to have it after 2 more years.

Hi Rina,
Warm welcome to you. Glad to have you here. Badam milk is always my fav too.

Hi Sirisha,
Thanks dear. I felt the same way too when I saw your kesar rolls.

Hi ISG,
Do try it sometime. It is such a simple and satisfying one.I'm so happy that you liked it.

Hi Rajitha,
wow...you are really a good sleeper. I usually don't drink milk regularly. But this one is an exception.

Hi Padma,
Yes dear. I made it atlast. Yaa, sometimes it becomes difficult to keep up with all the events. That's ok. Take it easy. Afterall, these events are to enjoy only not to have pressure on our back.:))

Hi Lavanya and Sharmi,
Thaks dears. Happy that you both liked them. Do try it sometime.

Hi Richa,
Thanks dear. I did search Indira's site and confirmed it. It's indeed the same. But we use the small variety ones. The ones at Indira's are a little big.Thanks again for letting me know.

Hi Pusiva,
I also did not know the english name earlier. Richa and Raks helped me find it. Actually ,it's called charoli/chironji in English. I'll post a link soon.

Hi TBC,
Me too. I don't drink milk, coffee or tea regularly. But this masala paal and some milk sweets are some exceptions.Thanks dear for your kind comment.

Hi Raks,
Thank you so much dear for the link. I did check it and it's the same, except that we use the smaller variety ones. Will link it soon to my post. Glad that you liked the masala paal.

Hi Lakshmi,
Thanks dear. It's my fav too.

USHA said...

Hi Kribha,

Wonderful and traditional recipes....Great idea of masala paal...actually it is very famous in Madurai side all..I tasted it for the first time their only...

Good presentation...

ushaprashanth said...

Hi!
Masala paal looks lovely!!!! good entry for the event!

Kribha said...

Hi Usha,
Is it a madurai speciality? Never knew it. I know that it's famous with the street vendors but I did not know about this. Thanks for your lovely comment dear.

Hi UshaPrashanth,
Thanks dear. Couldn't think of other ones at the last minute. But I'm glad that it turned out great.

Suma Gandlur said...

What a wonderful infusion of nuts and milk.

Kribha said...

Thanks suma. Glad you liked it.

Anonymous said...

This is badam milk.. not masala paal..