Bellam Paravannam. (Rice pudding with Jaggery)

Before we start anything new we pray to God. So keeping that in mind first recipe of my blog is prasadam for God. When I thought about prasadam first thing that came into my mind is Bellam Paravannam(Rice Pudding with Jaggery).

This dish is mainly used as Prasadam. I still remember my childhood when my mom used to make this on Ratha Sapthami day with new rice of the year, new jaggery using the KUMPATI( this is similar to charcoal grill but smaller size) outside in the sun. It was so yummy. Here you go, recipe of the same but without using kumpati ;)

Information about Ratha Sapthami:

Ratha Sapthami is the main festival of Sri Suryanarayana Swamy(Sun). Mythologically, Ratha Sapthami is considered as Sun God's birthday. Ratha Sapthami falls in February every year when the Spring starts.
On that day we pray to Sun to give us more strength and keep us healthy.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

4 cubes of jaggery or 1 1/2 cup of grated Jaggery

1 cup of milk

3 cardamoms
1tbsp Ghee

Cashews and raisins for garnish

Cook the rice in a heavy bottomed vessel using milk and water. While the rice is cooking, in another vessel boil the jaggery till the raw smell of jaggery goes. This helps the rice not to break(milk will break if we put jaggery directly).

Add the cardamom powder to the rice. Once the rice is cooked add the melted jaggery and boil for 5 mts on medium heat.

Fry the cashews and raisins using 1tsp of ghee till they turn golden color.

Garnish the rice pudding with the cashews and raisins.