Pongal Nal Vazhthukal (Happy Pongal)!

The best part of Pongal festival for me is the Sakkara Pongal which is a dish prepared with jaggery and rice. When I begun making it, I realized it was such an easy recipe and I have been making it frequently whenever the husband feels homesick.

  


This is my mother’s recipe and before her my grandmothter’s and so on. 

So here goes –

Serves 4

WHAT WE NEED

Rice                                 1 cup

Split moong dal           1/4 cup

Jaggery                           1 1/2 – 2 cups

Water                              1/2 cup

Cardamom powder     1/2 tsp

Ghee                                3 tbsp

Cashew nuts, broken  10

Raisins                             10-15
 

WHAT TO DO

• Cook the rice and dal till they come to mashing consistency.
• Mash it and keep aside
• Heat the water in a large pan. 
• Once it starts boiling and the jaggery and stir well till it melts.
• Continue to stir it over medium flame. It is ready when you drop it in water and it holds instead of dissolving. This should take 10-12 minutes.
• Then add the mashed rice and dal and mix well.
• Add 1 tbsp ghee and the cardamom powder and mix well.
• Let it simmer for around 15 minutes with regular stirring. Else there is a good chance that the rice gets stuck to the bottom of the pan.
• Meanwhile heat one tbsp ghee in a small pan and add the broken cashews and cook till they are golden brown. Set aside.
• Heat the balance ghee and cook the raisins till they puff up.
• Switch off the heat on the rice and add the cashews and raisins.
• Enjoy!

 

NOTES

1. If you don’t want the rice to be too mashed then dry roast the rice and dal before cooking them. Then they will retain their shape to an extent instead of it being all goey.
2. The amount of jaggery depends on its sweetness levels. I used 1 1/2 cups jaggery when I used to make it in India but here I need to use around 2 cups.
3. The Sakkara Pongal tastes good warm as well as cold. So save some in the fridge to have it cold.
4. The cardamom powder is optional but highly recommended.
5. There is no such thing as too much cashews and raisins for this dish. Add as much as you please.

     

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under Festival Dishes.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for other marathoners doing this BM. 

 

This is my entry for the Cooking from Cookbook Challenge hosted by Srivalli.