Microwaved Kalkandu Sadham (Misri Baath)

What's lurking in my kitchen? I discovered quite a lot of challenging items in my kitchen for this event. The ingredient that topped my list, chronologically was: 'Kalkandu' or sugar candy. My mom had gotten it for my baby shower(valaikaapu), and set it as one of the plates...My son is celebrating his first birthday this week. So, thats how long it has been in my kitchen. Go figure!

I knew I had to use it up somehow for the Blog Bites 4 Event, and I was also going through the recipes at Divya's blog for the 'Tried and Tasted' event. And there it was...Misri Baath or Kalkandu Sadham...Ta Da.....

And, to top it all off, Divya makes this in the microwave. I feel guilty that the only thing I use the microwave for is to reheat food. I have but once or twice used it to make microwave palkova. And I even own the book 'Microwave cooking by Mallika Badrinath', that my friend Kiri got for me. I am guilty as charged that I have never used that book. Somehow the idea of making any dish in the microwave seemed to take more effort than making it on the stove. Now, this dish proved me wrong. Thanks to Divya, I am now a believer of the microwave. I am going to be using that book and trying a lot more dishes from now on. :)

Wash and soak the rice in the measured water for about 30 minutesWarm the milk in the microwave for 1 . minute. Add the saffron strands and let it sit and steep. When the soaking time is up, set the rice in a microwave safe bowl with a lid and let it cook for 10 - 15 minutes. I used my Corelle White Casserole dish with a glass lid for this. Stir it once in between. What you are looking for is the rice to be al dente. When it reaches this point, add the milk along with the saffron, the coconut, the powdered kalkandu, sugar and 1 tsp ghee and stir to combine. Cook for another 10 minutes, covered.

When the 10 minutes is up, stir and check the consistency. If there is too much water remaining, take off the lid and cook it for another 5 minutes.(I had to do this step.) When the rice is cooked and a bit on the mushy side, take out the dish and set it out to rest.

In another bowl, microwave the remaining 2 tsp ghee along with the nuts and raisins for about 5 minutes. Add it to the rice. Stir and savor!

Note: My microwave is a bit on the slow side, so it took me about 20 minutes to get the rice cooked. For a better microwave, this process may take less time. But I still think it was easy..:)

Verdict: Creamy and delicious! It was the perfect comfort food..and to think that it was a sweet discovery, of a dish and a way of cooking..made me enjoy it even more..

Needless to say, this dish goes to T & T started by Zlamushka and hosted by Champa and also to BB4.