Theratipal Thabdi Milk Cake are different names of this dessert! Theratipal as it is known in Tamil cuisine, where the word Therati means to stir constantly and Pal, means milk. So traditionally this sweet dish was cooked by constantly stirring the milk and sugar over heat, until it caramelizes. This same dish is only different in color and shape but cooked the same way, in Gujarat too, where it is known as Thabdi. This happens to be my number 1 sweet from Rajkot, and I immensely cherish this simple milk cake flavor. People often call this as milk cake, as I discovered on researching about it on Google.
I am indebted to my Tamil friend philosopher guide and walking buddy in New Jersey, for introducing me to this recipe. The moment I had it, I was reminded of Thabdi from Rajkot and I was so very pleased for getting to know how to make it in simple easy steps. The secret was using condensed milk and heating in microwave. The recipe had been lying with me for 7-8 years, but never so light of the day till yesterday, which seemed to be a perfect timing to try this out on my own.
Yesterday being Earth day, and me being a big big fan of this planet earth, had to something more to celebrate, other than just plant some new flowers and rejoice in the blooms around me! I have always liked getting my hands dirty in the ground to plant something that gives you joy, year after year, and also teaches some important life lessons, One such lesson I have learnt is that everything is cyclical in nature as depicted by seasons that come and go, and every part of nature gets recycled into something else, and hence my feeling is the universe also gets recycled in some form or other and probably we as souls also keep changing our forms and lives over and over again.
As a very happy earthling, this dessert made great choice for celebration, as it is brown like the earth, and sweet and fragrant like the flowers and that bloom in it. Also this being the month of Mahavir Jayanti too, an important festival among Jains on the birth celebrations of Lord Mahavir it gave another reason to celebrate nature and environment and re-emphasize the importance of protecting and living in harmony with mother nature, which seems to be the backdrop on which Jainism values are set, in my opinion.
So wishing a belated Happy Earth day to all with Theratipal Thabdi Milk Cake, and hoping that many of you may have planted some nice flowers for the birds and bees or trees for the shade and shown appreciation in one way or the other for our planet earth- home of all and very happy to display this on leaf dish with blue earth background in true spirt of Earth Day!
Theratipal Thabdi Milk Cake Recipe
Recipe makes 9 pieces of 2*2 inches
Ingredients
- 1 can condensed milk
- 3 tbsp yogurt( Not sour)
- 3 tbsp ghee (unmelted)
- 3-4 cardamom seeds crushed finely
- Pinch of saffron
Method
- Use a deep microwave container if possible, as while cooking, the milk tends to overflow.
- Grease the microwave bowl with some ghee
- Mix yoghurt and 1 tbsp ghee into condensed milk.
- Heat for about 3 minutes monitoring it consistently. if the milk rises too close to the brim of bowl, take it out and mix well.
- This is how it would look around 4 minutes..
- Continue heating the mixture for another 3 minute but take it out every 30 -40 seconds or so and stir thoroughly, till the mixture is brown and the grain becomes finer. and consistent enough to form it into balls. It should not become too hard, it should be pliable
- Remove from microwave and fold in the ghee, and cardamom powder.
- Set the mixture to cool in a deep dish by spreading it evenly and smoothening the top using a spatula or back of a small steel bowl. I used my microwave container only to set, as it was the perfect depth and shape.
- Using a sharp knife or spatula makes pieces.
- Cool for about 5 minutes and store in an airtight container.
- Enjoy the taste of home sweet home!! This should stay fresh for about 2-3 days, but best when eaten fresh.
Tips
If the mixture gets too stiff, add some ghee and a bit of yogurt and mix it in, to make it more pliable. Alternatively a tbsp of milk also might help to make it more soft.
The consistency will harden after some time, so keep that in mind.
For vegan options, please use appropriate condensed milk from soy or almond.
Instinct Factor
Instinct factor is totally at work to recreate this delicacy and tweak the recipe that was more suited to what was more common in Tamil cuisine.Trusting your tastebuds works the best! So feel free to do what dictates your heart! Make sure that yogurt is not too sour, and if you like it more sweeter, add some sugar.
Feel Factor
Theratipal Thabdi Milk Cake is a simple ten minute recipe using condensed milk and the end result is a filling, soulful sweet that reminds you of mother earth. The fact that some people refer this as a milk cake, gives an indication to the texture of this delicacy, however it is not as soft as how one would expect a cake is. It is slightly more gooey and with some texture too it. If you like yogurt, milk and caramelized flavor, this might be just a new discovery for you to fall in love with and for me to continue my liking for this sweet. I did find out that I like the yogurt flavor in this sweet, and am extremely happy to share this earth looking sweet, around Earth Day which may be called as Theratipal from Tamilnadu or Thabdi from Gujarat. Great thing is, both start with the same syllable, “Th” and both are part of the this planet earth and this sweet also will be equally enjoyed by people from different part of earth, as did my neighbors!
