Chakkara Pongal with Brown Rice
Chakkara Pongal / Sakkara Pongal/ Chakkarai Pongal is an auspicious sweet dish made on Pongal day. The freshly harvested rice and dal, are cooked along with jaggery for a simple, minimalistic sweet dish to mark the occasion of Pongal, a festival celebrated with much fervour in Tamil Nadu. As a kid,
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice Brown / unpolished
- 1/4 cup Moong Dal Yellow
- 1 cup jaggery Grated or crushed dark
- 3 cardamoms Green
- 2 tbsps Ghee
- 2 - 3 tbsps Raisins
- 2 - 3 tbsps cashews almonds Broken or
Instructions
- Rinse and soak the brown rice for 1 hour. Drain water and keep aside.
- Lightly roast the dry moong dal for 4-5 minutes until aromatic. Do not brown it.
- In a pressure cooker, take the drained rice, roasted moong dal with 3.5 cups of water. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and then cook on sim for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a heavy bottomed pan, place the grated jaggery along with 3-4 tbsp of water until you get a melted liquid jaggery.
- Once the cooker has cooled, add the cooked dal-rice to the melted jaggery, adding some more water if required and bring this to a simmer, adding 1 tbsp ghee to it at this stage.
- Crush the pods of the green cardamom and add it to the simmering pongal.
- Heat the remaining ghee in a small pan or a tadka ladle, add the raisins and chopped nuts and stir until the raisins puff up and the almonds are golden brown.
- Remove the pongal into a serving bowl and add the raisins and almonds as a garnish.
Notes
