Srivilliputhur Palkova/Thiratti pal

Srivilliputhur is another ancient town in Virudhunagar district near Madhurai. 
The town is famous for its ancient heritage, temples and Palkova(Milk sweet).The temple tower in this town is the official emblem of Tamil nadu.There is a separate temple for Andal here.
There are numerous shops selling Palkova near the Andal temple which has a unique taste.


Coming to the recipe, I learnt this from my maternal grandfather.My grandfather was a President for one of the cottage industry making these palkovas at Srivilliputhur.Whenever he visits us in Chennai he never fails to bring those small packets of palkova.It so happened that all those packets got over and I was wanting more.My grandfather finally set to make this sweet in our kitchen with aavin milk and I can never forget those moments (It was nearly more than 15 years back)


Nowadays I make them only in microwave using condensed milk (Click here for recipe), but for the marathon I made this in stove top just to retain its authenticity

Ingredients
Milk: 8 cups
Sugar: 1 cup
Titbits from my Grandpa: Looks like they add only 1/2 cup of sugar in Srivilliputhur Palkova as the milk in nature is very sweet there.And that is the secret of the uniqueness in the palkova sold there.


Procedure:
Step1:
Bring the milk to a boil

Step2:
Reduce the flame and simmer for 1 hour stirring every 10 minutes.
Use a flat splatula to stir and scrap the sides of the pan.
Make sure that the milk does not get burnt at the bottom

Step3:
After some time, the color changes to ivory color and starts to solidify

Step4:
Once it starts solidifying, add sugar and stir continuously otherwise the milk will get burnt

Step5:
Keep on stirring until the milk solidifies and starts leaving the sides of the pan

Packed them in butter paper as sold in Andal temple.I got only 4 packets with 8 cups of milk!