Doodh Pak / Rice And Sabudana Kheer.

Doodh Pak / Rice And Sabudana Kheer .......... A traditional Amchi Payasam ........

Doodh Pak is a sweet payasam sort of dish prepared during festivals and served after naivedyam to God. This is a dish cooked in milk with a combination of rice and sabudana (Tapioca pearls). 

The traditional method was to cook them together till done. However I have never got the correct consistency of cooking the sabudana to get pearly effect if cooked together as sometimes they get mashed up. So I tried successfully the method of cooking them initially separate and then combining them to further cook at the final stage. The result is really too good with perfectly cooked rice and the sabudana. Do try this out.

Soak one cup of large sized variety sabudana in a large bowl adding about 4-5 cups of water. Leave this covered aside for about 2 hours. Drain off the water completely and leave it aside to swell on its own for another 2-3 hours. You can prepare this in advance and keep it in the fridge and use as and when necessary. It remains good for 2-3 days. Sabudana should swell properly and look like small white pearls for you to get the best spongy effect. So soaking and resting period is very important. You can not add the sabudana directly nor the soaked one immediately as that will not give you the above softness.

Wash and drain well one cup of good quality rice. I have used Amba Mor Rice as it gives a good softness and lovely aroma while cooking. You can use any variety of rice of your choice. Boil 5 cups of water in a thick bottomed large stainless steel vessel. When it comes to a boil, lower heat and add in the washed and drained rice. Bring to a boil on high heat. Lower the heat and cook till done. Now tilt the vessel and remove as much as excess remaining water as possible in another thick bottmed stainless steel vessel. Keep the rice cooked vessel aside covered. 

Add in the sabudana into the 2nd vessel in which the strained cooked rice water is added. Cook sabudana till done. Add some hot water if required. Keep stirring and checking in between so that the sabudana does not get burnt at the bottom of the vessel. The sabudana will look a bit translucent, mirror like when done. Now add in a handful of broken cashews, sliced almonds and dried graped and mix well. 

Pour the cooked sabudana mixture into the 1st vessel in which the rice is cooked and keep mixing the 2 well till they are well combined. Add in 2 cups of thick boiled milk, 2 cups of sugar (plus or minus as per your taste) and keep on low heat and bring to a boil. Cook till the sugar has dissolved completely. The mixture starts thickening and starts getting a bit soft. Now the Doodh Pak is done. Serve hot.