Microwave Theratti Paal / Palgova

I love theratti paal! When I was away in Sweden on an exchange program, there was a time when I started to really crave sweets. I wanted a nice Indian sweet but didn’t know how to make anything :(

I spoke to my mum over the phone and she told me that I could easily make theratti paal in the microwave. She then told me that there was no way I could go wrong as it was a very simple recipe. However, when I tried it for the first time I somehow managed to burn it – and basically ended up with burnt milk lolly pop instead! I struggled but eventually I did eat it!

Some people make microwave theratti paal with sweetened condensed milk – however I find that to be a little too sweet. If you want to make it with sweetened condensed milk then you just need to substitute the milk powder, thickened cream and sugar in the following recipe for one can (~250mL) of sweetened condensed milk / milk maid. The method is otherwise the same as listed below.

I personally prefer the following recipe...

Ingredients:
2 cups milk powder
1 cup Thickened cream
½ cup sugar
Cashews – 20g
1 table-spoon of yoghurt
Pinch of cardamom (powder)
Vanilla Essence or few strands of Saffron soaked in 1tbspoon of hot water.

Method:
1)Mix all ingredients together in a microwave-safe cooking bowl.
2)Put in microwave for 2-3 minutes.
3)Take out of microwave and stir.
4)Continue to do the above till the mixture gets thick and reaches a nice consistency. Wait for the mixture to boil then remove from microwave. The whole thing should take about 10minutes.
5)Serve warm or chilled.

The only thing about this recipe is, YOU HAVE TO WATCH the mixture boil! If you decide to clean-up or turn your back for even a minute, your mixture will most likely boil over and you will have to clean your microwave. Trust me – I have started with enough mixture to feed 10 people, and have ended up with only enough for two people!

The above should make 4-6 fairly large servings.

Other notes:
1)You can use skim milk powder and reduced fat cream if you like. It just tastes better with full-fat stuff - to me, using the low fat alternatives is like ordering diet coke with a full-cheese pizza!
2)To know when the sweet is done, cook it till the mixture is no longer boiling over. This is just before it starts to burn. You can cook it till it just starts to brown if you like.

"I love this indian sweet,
it really is a treat!
Full-cream, low fat or skim,
it satisfies your saccharine whim!"

The First Serve...

Both my mum and grandma are fantastic cooks. I guess that is why I grew to the ripe old age of 23 and still didn’t know how to cook! I never saw the need to learn to cook. I hardly thought about cooking – food would just magically appear on the table (or in rare cases in my hand!) as and when I desired.

However, when I got married - things changed. While my husband is a fantastic cook (and I have no vekam in saying that!), I realised that it would be just a little bit unfair to expect my husband to cook for me EVERYDAY! Besides I am usually home before him and am absolutely staaaarving from the minute I enter the house!

So, I started cooking.

Food and stories go together for me. Some of my earliest memories are of being told stories while being fed "pappu mammu". There is almost always a reason why I cook things the way I cook them. I thought that it would be fun to write these stories and at the same time, share some of the recipes given to me by my mum / grandma / mother-in-law / aunties / friends etc...

All the above seem to have culminated to form this – a blog for all Saapattu Raamans and Saapattu Vidyas out there who love food but never really learnt to cook!

An Explanatory Note:

Why Kari Masala?

When I first started blogging my blog was called “Kari Masala”. It was supposed to portray all the “masala” that formed the spice of my life – granted that it was maybe a little trite! Having said that - "Kari Masala" has remained my all time favourite name for a blog – and when I decided to start a “Food Blog”, I had to call it this!