AADI THENGAI PAAL PAYASAM RECIPE - AADI PANDIGAI RECIPES

Aadi thengai paal (Aadi paal) also known as arisi thengai paal payasam is prepared on Aadi pirappu or Aadi pandigai in most of the Tamil brahmin’s houses. They call it as Aadi paal. Aadi Pirappu festival is observed on the first day of Tamil month Aadi (Aadi 1st) as per tamil panjangam. This year 2024, it falls on July 17th.

Aadi is the beginning of festival months for Tamil people. So Aadi pandigai is one of the famous festivals celebrated in Tamil nadu. In this month we celebrate Aadi velli, Aadi sevvai, Aadi kirthigai, Aadi amavasai, Aadi pooram and the most important Aadi perukku/Aadi 18 festival. In Salem – Tamilnadu, we welcome Aadi by roasting coconut filled with jaggery and sesame mix in direct fire. We call it as “Thengai sudum pandigai”. My mom follows this practice till today whereas my MIL makes either sweet pongal or payasam along with medhu vadai.

When I was young, I love to help my mom in all the pre preparatory works till roasting for Aadi 1st day festival. The taste of roasted coconut along with the sesame seeds mix would be awesome. I have posted that recipe IN THIS LINK. There are many reasons to celebrate the beginning of Aadi both scientifically & traditionally. To me, Aadi means discounts ;)). Every year I used to wait for aadi & buy new clothes and other things at discounted rates. Most importantly Aadi is my birth month. So I get special gifts and pamperings from my parents and husband in this month. In addition to all these, aadi is a very special month for newly-weds.

In this month, newly married couple is invited to the girl’s house and the couple is gifted with new clothes and other presents with grand festival lunch. I heard Tamil Brahmins make this rich thengai paal in this festival lunch menu for their son-in-laws. When I read this, I found it interesting and wanted to give a try. As Sendhil loves coconut milk based dishes, he enjoyed it a lot. Its a very simple but very rich payasam kind of dessert. It tastes like sweetened coconut milk we make for aapam. Do try this Aadi paal for a change, offer to God and welcome Aadi – the festival month of Tamil nadu.

Please note the color of this payasam may vary based on the quantity & color of jaggery. This year I used dark colored jaggery and got the payasam dark in color. I have uploaded some old pictures below for your reference.

Check out Salem special Aadi thengai pandigai recipe here.

PLEASE CHECK THE VIDEO FOR AADI PAAL RECIPE HERE

Do check out my other Aadi recipes too

Old picture – I used colorless vellam. So color of this payasam is white.

Aadi thengai paal recipe

Aadi thengai paal recipe Aadi thengai paal recipe for aadi pirappu/aadi pandigai !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Festival recipes

Serves: 2

Prep time: 15 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 25 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup – 250ml

Grated coconut – 1 cup (Thick coconut milk – 1/2 cup, thin coconut milk – 1/2 to 3/4 cup)
Raw rice – 1 tbsp or Rice flour – 2 tsp
Grated jaggery – 1/2 cup
Cardamom – 2 nos
Cashews – 5 nos
Ghee – 2 tsp

HOW TO MAKE AADI PAAL – METHOD

Grate coconut. Grind it adding rice & 1 cup of warm water to take the first milk. Strain it and take the extract. Again add 1/2 cup of water, grind and take the second milk. Mix both the milk and set aside. If you do not want to use raw rice, you can mix rice flour in the coconut milk and mix without lumps. Basically rice is used to thicken this payasam.

Melt the grated jaggery in a bowl adding 1/4 cup of water. Once its melted, strain the syrup and again boil for few minutes in medium flame till its raw smell emanates.
Now add the coconut milk and let it boil in medium flame for 3-4 minutes. It should not roll boil. Coconut milk should be heated till its raw smell goes off. Keep stirring every now and then. Lastly add cardamom powder. Roast cashews in ghee and add to the payasam.

Delicious aadi thengai paal is ready !

Aadi paal video

Note

Adjust the quantity of jaggery based on your taste.
U can replace rice with rice flour but you should mix it without any lumps. Basically rice or rice flour is used to give thickness to the dish.
U can add a pinch of saffron if you wish.
Color of this payasam may vary based on the color of jaggery.

Do check out my other Aadi recipes