Paalumittai (Milk Sweet)
One of the most sorted after of all sweets in our childhood and my mom’s and Ammachi’s special Mittai(sweets). My mummy had 5-6 cows in the house from which the milk was supplied to nearby houses from that she earned her pocket money . In the school holidays mostly these families might go on vacations to their ancestoral homes which would result in excess milk at our house.Those days we kids were to get these mittais ,Icecreams and Rose milk etc. I too often made this when my kids were younger and they were fussy in drinking milk as such.
This is made with 3 ingredients-milk,sugar and cardamoms and all the milk has to be reduced to a mass by heating it.Usually it’s made after the lunch preparations are over and the fire hasn’t been put out.The urali with the milk is kept on the fireplace and all of us kids made sure that we occasionally visit the kitchen to know the progress of the Paalumittai .
One of the most time consuming of all sweets,the best and only sweets of our childhood presenting the one and only Paal(milk)Mittai(sweets)
Paalumittai Recipe
1.Full fat Milk-1 lire
In a nonstick vessel or wide bottom pan add the milk and heat it.Once boiled reduce the heat and allow it to simmer till almost reduced to half,stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom and get burnt.
2.Rainbow evaporated milk-410 gm
Sugar-2 cup
I added a big tin of evaporated milk to this to get large quantity of Mittai from this.Once this is reduced to almost 1/3 rd of the original,add 1 cup sugar and stir in.Now continue to reduce the mixture stirring continuously since once sugar is added the chances of the sweetened mixture sticking to the bottom is higher.
Taste and add the remaining sugar according to your taste. I added the remaining 1 cup sugar to this.
3.Cardamom-4(crushed)
Ghee-1 tbsp
Add the crushed cardamom and cook till the mixture thickens and starts to form a mass.Towards the end I added a tbsp of ghee to this since the milk we get here doesn’t have the butter that is seen in the milk that is available in Kerala.Once it’s become a mass,off the stove and allow it to cool a little bit.Now Apply ghee to your palms and take small portions and roll it out into small balls. I got around 54 small balls of Paalumittai from this mixture.These can be kept out for 3-4 days.After this it should be refrigerated.
Note:if you want a Chocolate version of the same add 3 -5 tbsps of cocoa powder to the milk once it’s reduced to 1/3 rd the original.
original.
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