What is Kerala’s favourite payasam?

Kerala's love for palada payasam, a milk-based dessert, has a rich history and remains a popular choice during feasts.

Kerala’s enduring love for palada payasam extends beyond the banana leaf. Cakes to cake tubs, cake jars, tres leches, even cheesecake, every Onam, a new version of the palada appears! This thick milk payasam in light blushing pink colour enriched with square nuggets of ada (steamed rice), however, has a fairly recent history on Kerala’s payasam map. 

It is believed to have gained popularity post the white revolution of the 1970s, when milk was made available in plenty. A landmark project of India’s National Dairy Development Board, it doubled the milk available per person in India. And this could possibly have led to milk being used instead of coconut milk in payasam. The ada pradhaman, made with ada, jaggery and coconut milk, was commonly prepared in homes until then along with the other jaggery-coconut milk payasams including parippu (lentil), chakka (jackfruit)and pazham (banana) to name a few. Once the palada came in, it won instant acceptance among the masses.

Kavadi Kumar, who owns and runs Balambika, a catering service in Palakkad, remembers the flutter palada created in the 1970s. The 59-year-old, who has been working in the industry for over 45 years, says post 1980s, the palada held sway in the Palakkad-Thrissur-Ernakulam regions. “Every feast had to have the palada. And the popularity continues to this day. Before the 70s, it was the idichupizhinja (coconut milk-based) pradhamans that were in demand,” he says.

Once the palada took over, there has been nothing to beat its popularity, he says. “These days, every one makes the palada, but very few times does one come across a palada that is made the right way,” says Kumar. “The milk has to be boiled and reduced and it has to simmer for at least one-and-a-half hours, before adding the sugar, boiled for another one-and-a-half hours and only then does the ada go in. The real palada has the colour of chembakapoo (champa flower).”

In Thiruvananthapuram, however, it is the ada pradhaman that reigns supreme, says culinary expert, TV personality and vlogger Lekshmi Nair. “It is the first payasam to be served in a feast. Though over the past few years, palada has found its way here, it is ada pradhaman that is more popular,” she adds. The last of the payasams to be served in a feast is the paalpayasam (milk and rice payasam), which is relished with boli, she adds.

“Historically, the payasams made in Kerala homes were an extension of what was offered as prasadam from the temples. There were two varieties — milk based and jaggery based. Among the milk payasams, it was the paalpayasam, which had just milk, sugar and kuthari (brown rice).” The Ambalapuzha paalpayasam deserves special mention here, she adds. “It is believed to be the origin of the tradition of making milk and rice payasams in Kerala. It is not flavoured with cardamom or raisins or cashew. The paalpayasams that we make at home are various iterations of this famed payasam, made as an offering to the presiding deity of the temple, Lord Krishna,” says Lekshmi.

Kerala’s payasam library is full of variety — parippu (lentil), gothambu (wheat), pazham (banana), chakka (jackfruit) that are made using coconut milk and jaggery. Payasams that are made using coconut milk are usually known as pradhaman. Over time, rice flakes (aval), seasonal fruit, even vegetables such as cabbage came to be used to make payasams, not to mention the much-loved vermicelli payasam.