Today is Varalakshmi Vratham, an auspicious day to celebrate goddess Lakshmi in her beautiful form of Varalakshmi. In these uncertain and gloomy days, any small positive change feels like a warm welcome and today we took the opportunity of festivity to make the day slightly special with the limited resources we had. Dad had been working tireless setting up Ammavaru and this year, he took the task of making hands & feet for the goddess. After two days of non-stop work, he got the pooja set up to a stage that he was satisfied. Our Ammavaru adorned a single pink hibiscus flower from our small balcony garden and she was gloriously divine. May the goddess shower her choicest blessings on all of us! Check out my post on Instagram to see our decorations and lunch preparations. On this special occasion, I am sharing the recipe of Doodhpak or Doodh Pak - Gujarati special rice and milk pudding.
I first learnt about Doodhpak from Srujan on Instagram and like everything she posts, I was mesmerized by her words and tempted by her pictures, wanting to make it right away. The recipe is very simple – cook rice and milk together until it is creamy before adding sugar and other flavoring substances like cardamom powder and saffron. It requires a bit of elbow grease, as you have to constantly stir the mixture, caramelizing the rice and milk even before adding sugar. For someone who grew up loving paramannam, a similar sweet made from rice, milk and jaggery, I couldn’t resist making Doodh Pak. I especially remember my aunt cooking a large pot of paramannam just for me, as I loved to so very much.
I chose to make Doodhpak with Seeraga Samba – short grained aromatic rice from Tamilnadu and some day, I would love it make it Gobindobhog rice too. You could make it with any type of rice – basmati or even sona masoori but a fragrant rice would yield best results. The cooking time also highly depends on the type of rice used. Basmati cooks very quickly and that’s why I wouldn’t pick it for this recipe. I used one litre of full cream milk and the rice slowly cooked in it for over an hour. The natural sugars of the rice and milk make it sweet as it gets creamy, so adjust the amount of sugar per the sweetness preferred. I topped it off with slivered almonds and pistachios. It is as decadent as it can get, with very simple ingredients. Check out other festival recipes.
📖 Recipe
In a thick bottomed pan, add washed rice. Pour boiled milk and let it come to a slow boil.
As the milk boils, stir it continuously to make sure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom.
Add saffron strands, continue cooking the rice and milk on low flame for 15-20 mins, scraping the edges of the pan and stirring it occasionally.
When the rice is ¾th cooked, keep cooking it on low flame and don’t stop stirring the mixture. At this stage, it is easy for the rice to stick to the bottom.
After another 15-20 mins, the rice and milk mixture is creamy and caramelized. The rice should easily mash when pressed between fingers.
At this stage, add sugar. Mix it well and cook it on low flame until the sugar is melted.
As the mixture comes together, add cardamom powder.
When it looks thick enough, add slivered almonds and pistachios – remove from heat.
Serve it warm or cold as a dessert.
Adjust the amount of sugar depending on the sweet preference. You can make this in pressure cooker, but nothing comes closer to this slow cooked version.
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