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Vendhaya Kali or Aromatic Rice and Fenugreek Custard

A light summer custard made with fenugreek/methi/vendhayam seeds, which have known body-cooling properties. Any raw rice will do, but the aromatic ones will bring more complexity and dimension: gobindo bhog (Bengal), ambe mohar (Maharashtra), Krishna Kamod (Gujarat), gandakashala and mullan kayama (Kerala)
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • ¼ cup aromatic raw rice
  • ¾ tablespoon urad dal
  • 2 tablespoons methi or fenugreek seeds
  • 1 cup panavellam paakam—a thick syrup made by melting palm sugar jaggery plus more to serve on the side
  • 1 tablespoon ghee or substitute for sesame oil
  • 2-3 tablespoons marachekku nallyennai or cold pressed sesame oil plus more to serve
  • 3-4 cardamom pods crushed into a fine powder
  • 1 tablespoon broken cashew pieces to garnish optional

Instructions
 

  • Soak the rice, urad dal and methi seeds for 3-4 hours or up to overnight. Together is fine.
  • Before making the kali, prepare the panavalla paakam if you haven't already--combine a block of jaggery with a cup of water and bring to a simmer on the stove. As the jaggery warms, it will be easy to crumble with a spoon. Once it's dissolved, continue to boil until you get a thick syrup. Don't worry too much about string-consistencies. Set aside.
  • Grind the rice-dal-methi mixture with just enough water to make a semi-fine paste.
  • The batter will be thick, so thin it with water until it is light and pours well. (Do not add too much water while grinding or it will be hard to get the right consistency. Get the batter to the right texture and then thin it). Thinning is important so that the batter doesn’t thicken too fast and catch at the bottom of the pan in the next step. Also, the rice in the batter needs water to cook properly!
  • Set the pan on a low flame and mix continuously—the mixture will thicken fast and get lumpy if it’s not continually attended to. I use a wire whisk at this stage.
  • When the batter thickens and starts to appear semi-cooked and a little glassy, add 1 tablespoon ghee—mix to incorporate—and then follow with 3 tablespoons sesame oil in 1-spoon increments. The batter will be a little “hydrophobic” and the oils will refuse to combine, so go slowly. Switching to a wooden spoon or spatula to mix in the fats makes it a little easier.
  • Slowly pour in the panavella paakam, a little at a time, again mixing slowly but constantly to incorporate.
  • The vendhaya kali is done when the mixture starts to look more glassy than chalky and when wet fingers leave small indents on the surface of the kali: the batter doesn’t stick to your fingers
  • Add the crushed cardamom.
  • Serve warm with more sesame oil drizzled over top and some more panavalla paakam on the side.
  • Toast the broken cashew pieces in a little ghee, if you're using, and scatter on top.

Notes

Vendhaya kali can be sweetened while cooking or you can simply skip the addition of palm jaggery syrup in the cooking process and serve with the syrup on the side, so the sweetening happens in the eating. It’s a personal choice and a taste preference.
The traditional sweetener of choice is pana vellam or palm jaggery, but what's to stop you from trying patali or nolen gud when it's in season? (That's just before the summer starts).