Bellam Paramannam (Jaggery Rice Pudding)

Bellam Paramannam is a sweet rice dish which is prepared on almost every festival or puja in south India as a part of Naivedyam ( offering to God ).
It is prepared with rice, milk and jaggery.
I make it for almost all the pujas.
 Here's the recipe for the same :

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Milk - 4 cups
• Grated Jaggery - 2 cups
• Water - 1 cup
• Cardamom powder - a pinch
• Cashew nuts, raisins - for garnishing
• Ghee - 2-3 tbsp

Directions :

• Wash and soak rice in water for about half an hour. Drain and keep aside.
• Boil the milk in a heavy bottom pan or pot, then simmer it and add rice to it. Cook until the rice is soft and cooked. Turn off the heat.
• In a separate pan, heat water and add grated jaggery to it and let it melt on medium heat. Do not cook for too long, you just want the entire jaggery to melt . it might be done in, say, 3-4 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it stand for 2 minutes.
• Now add this jaggery to the cooked rice and cook on low heat for 4-5 minutes .
• Add cardamom powder just one minute before turning off the heat.
• In a small pan, heat ghee, and roast cashewnuts and raisins till golden , pour all of it ( along with the remaining ghee ) over the rice and mix well.
• You can serve it hot or cold or at room temperature.

Tip : Some people prefer to cook jaggery along with rice and milk. However, that would be a little risky as it might separate the milk. So it would be better to cook them both separately and mix it after they cool down a bit.