The milk of Aadi

The Tamil lunar month of Aadi starts today.  With Aadi, begins a long line of festivals and ceremonies that Hinduism is famous for.

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Tamil Nadu is watered by a few rivers, predominant among them being Kaveri, that flows through the  "granary of the South" - the Thanjavur area. Born on the Kodagu hills in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, the river is fed during the South West monsoon rains during this month, thereby washing away the debris of an almost dry summer river bed of the planes, and making the land suitable for the next crop - the adage goes "Aadi pattam thaedi vidhai (Rough translation: Sow the seeds in Aadi)". For a population that had been scorched by the Indian summer, the fresh water brings with it an end of two months of heat induced lethargy and the start of business.  Thus, the kitchen, which functioned minimally in summer, now gears up for the bounty that nature would soon offer, and the celebrations of more pleasant weather that would follow.  

Aadi is a month to be spent in spiritual pursuit. In Tamil Nadu, the month is dedicated to the Goddess, the Mother.  "Amman" temples see a flurry of activity with special prayers, as ever, associated with food.  "Koozu", a sumptuous, healthy, millet porridge is made and  distributed to all visitors. Aadi perukku, falling on the sixteenth day of Aadi, is an invocation to the Kaveri, for Her life force. The new moon of Aadi is time to sow the new seeds after a special thanksgiving to the dead. Aadi pooram, the birth day of Aandaal, Varalakshmi Nonmbu, a thanksgiving to the Goddess of prosperity and Naaga Chathurthi are other festivals during this month.

But today, Aadi begins.  And we traditionally welcome it with Coconut milk. The recipe is simple enough for a mageirocophobic, so here goes.

Aadi Coconut Milk Payasam


Ingredients (serves four):
Medium sized Coconuts: 2

Jaggery/brownsugar: 1/4 cup.  You may reduce or increase the amount of jaggery depending on what flavour you want to predominate - that of coconut, or that of jaggery.  And your sweet tooth.

Cardamom: 2

If you were a cook-connesseur (a.k.a. Gayathri), you'd grate the coconuts, but chopping the coconuts into small pieces works fine as well, especially if you are averse to time consuming activities such as grating using the traditional "thiruval" shown here.

To one cup of grated (or chopped) coconut, add two cups water and grind in a regular mixer for a few rounds. Filter and squeeze the "milk" out of the residue.    Set the "first" milk aside.

Add a couple more cups of water to the de-milked residue, grind a bit longer, and filter the "second milk" in a separate vessel.

Dissolve powdered or grated jaggery (or brown sugar) to the second milk, filter to remove any dust and other sediments.  Heat this second-milk-jaggery mixture for a few minutes - do not let it boil.  Add chopped or ground cardamom, and the first milk to this, warm the mixture a bit longer and voila, your coconut milk payasam is ready.  This can be consumed both warm and cold. 

Some people make it with sugar instead of jaggery.  Sugar would help retain the coconut flavour in the milk.

Although it is tempting to believe that coconut milk could spike up cholesterol levels, there has been considerable debate on the issue.  The calorific and nutritional information of coconut milk can be seen here.

The birth of Aadi promises more recipes here from Gayathri.  Stay tuned.