A delicious match: Where the quintessential palada pradhaman meets creamy ice cream

Palada pradhaman ice cream | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement An ice cream goodie box arrives from Boomerang. Curious, I scoop up a spoonful of the creamy indulgence and smile heartily. With every scoop of the melt-in-the mouth ice cream, I also bite into soft, chewy little flakes of the velvety palada pradhaman, the much-loved Onam treat. The new flavour blends the milky sweetness of the familiar pradhaman into a creamy scoop, a delicious meeting of the quintessential Onam dessert and ice cream. It is the result of Boomerang’s collaboration with A1 Chips.“It is not easy to do a fusion. You cannot just take palada pradhaman and freeze it,” says Vanjimuthu Palaniswamy, director of Boomerang, adding that there is a lot of science that goes into this. “This is not about sales, it is about showcasing our capabilities.” For Boomerang, the collaboration is an opportunity to showcase its product-development capabilities and the science behind its ice creams.It took months of trials and a careful balancing of flavours to turn A1 Chips’ palada pradhaman into ice cream. The challenge, however, was preserving the character of palada. “When frozen, the ada can become hard and crunchy, unlike the soft texture expected of the traditional dessert. Our team had to carefully balance the mix so that the ada retained its softness while blending seamlessly into the ice cream,” explains Vanjimuthu adding that the idea was first explored with A1 several years ago. The initial trials took about two months but the project was put on hold during the pandemic before being revived this year for Onam.For Sudeesh Dhamodaran, joint managing director of A1 Chips, which makes a variety of sweets and savouries, the starting point was the short shelf life of palada pradhaman, which is best when consumed fresh. He wanted to explore whether technology could extend its shelf life without compromising its authenticity or adding unnecessary ingredients. That led him to Tarun Vanjimuthu, who handles new product development at Boomerang and has been trained in food-technology in Australia. Vanjimuthu Palaniswamy (left), director of Boomerang with Sudeesh Dhamodaran, joint managing director of A1 Chips | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement For three to four months, A1 sent palada to Boomerang every week for trials. “There were plenty of hits and misses. Once, the ada got stuck in the pump of the ice cream machine, bringing the equipment to a halt and forcing the team to rework the entire process. But the experimentation eventually paid off,” he recalls.The sugar content and caramelisation already present in the palada posed another challenge. The team had to adjust the pre-mix accordingly before taking it through the pasteurisation process, ensuring that the heat treatment did not compromise the flavour, texture or quality of the final product. The result: a dessert that retains the familiar sweetness and comforting taste of palada and the creamy, cold indulgence of ice cream.For Sudeesh, the collaboration has an emotional connect. “Boomerang has been part of my family’s memories for years, with many of my cousins having their first scoop of ice cream here. Late-night movie outings would often end with a visit to Boomerang for several scoops and softies.” For Boomerang, however, the palada pradhaman ice cream is a limited-edition product, available for only a few days.“That is the capability we want to showcase,” says Vanjimuthu, who began Boomerang in 1997 which has now grown to over 30 outlets. They regularly work with hotels and other food businesses to co-create customised ice creams, developing recipes according to their requirements rather than supplying a single standard product to everyone.From mysorepak ice cream made with Annapoorna for Deepavali to experimenting with flavours such as shahi tukda and Iranian chai, for them, innovation is a continuous process. “We want to bring new technology and global food trends while adapting them to the Indian palate. I don’t look at the product and say wow. I look for feedback in my customers’ faces and their expressions,” he says, adding, “When they say, ‘wow!’, we feel we have won.”Available at Boomerang outlets till stocks last Published - August 31, 2026 02:07 pm IST