Sweet Pongal ( சக்கரை பொங்கல்)

                                         

Sweet Pongal ( சக்கரை பொங்கல்)

Ingredients:

Raw ponni rice ( பச்சரிசி ) - 1 cup
Moong dal  - 1/4 cup
Jaggery ( வெல்லம்)  -  2 cups  ( powdered)
Clarified butter / Ghee ( நெய் )  - 4 tbsp
Cashew nuts  - 6 (broken to halves)
Raisins  -  6
Powdered Cardamom  -   1/4 tsp
Edible camphor (  பச்சை கற்பூரம் )  - a pinch
Milk  -  1 cup


Steps:

Dry roast moong dal on medium fire until fragrant.
Wash & soak rice and moong dal in water together for 30 min.
For every 1 and 1/4 cups of this mixture add 4 cups of water and 1 cup of milk. Pressure cook for 3 whistles and cook in medium flame for 2 to 3 min.

In a pan, add 1 cup of water and add the powdered jaggery and bring it to boil. Strain to remove impurities and bring back to boil for 3 more min.
Mash the cooked rice with a flat ladle into a smooth paste. This has to be done when the cooked rice is hot.
In a heavy bottom pan add the jaggery syrup and cooked rice. Mix well and cook in medium flame. Add 2 to 3 tbsp of ghee so that the pongal doesn't stick to the bottom.
Cook for 5 min.
In a small pan, heat 1 tbsp of ghee. Fry the cashew nuts and raisins and add to the cooked Pongal.
Switch off the flame. Add cardamom powder and edible camphor.

The sweet delight is ready to serve.

My Notes:

A while ago, the topic of making sweet pongal with the right consistency (neither very smooth like thick porridge nor like sweet rice with individual rice grains) came up and so, here are a few tips that might prove to be helpful.

For sweet pongal the ratio of rice and water should be 1:5 so that the dish doesn't become hard and dry  after a few hours or when it has turned cold. I have used 4 cups of water and 1 cup milk. You can vary the proportions of milk and water according to your taste.
While pressure cooking, always cover the vessel with a lid. Also choose a bigger  vessel to cook rice. The uncooked rice should occupy less than 1/3 of the vessel' capacity. If it exceeds that, the milk may spill over and come out while pressure cooking.
Another option is to cook rice with 3 cups of water and later add 2 cups of boiled warm milk to the mashed cooked rice and mix well.
If rice is not mashed well before adding jaggery, one don't get an uniform consistency of pongal. It may end up like cooked sweet rice.
A little extra edible camphor tends to give a strong pungent taste. So be cautious to add the right amount. Camphor gives sweet pongal a distinct flavour. Cardamom is the common flavoring for all desserts.
After garnishing and mixed well, transfer the content to another vessel. If kept in the same vessel that was used for cooking, pongal tends to become thick as the heat in the vessel will absorb the moisture.
While cooking in a open pot  either stainless steel or bronze ( வெங்கல பானை ) the rice:water ratio has to be 1:6. Here care should be taken to cook in a medium flame and stir regularly. The stainless steel pot has to be heavy bottomed. More milk can be added.
வெங்கல பானை, as the bronze pot is called in tamil, is the best to cook pongal.
Earthen pot ( மண் பானை) is used during Pongal festival and other special occasions by some people.

For the Tamil New year, I made this delicacy for the prayers at home. I also made vadai, idli and sambar to go along with it.
On Tamil New Year, the practice of viewing prosperous things like rice, dal, jaggery, lit lamp, flowers, vegetables, money, jewelries, etc.., the first thing in the morning after one wakes up is considered auspicious.
After finishing prayer comes the tradition of the first food taken, which is a simple mixture of  raw mango pieces mixed with neem flowers and jaggery to symbolize that life is a combination of sweetness and bitterness and one is expected to accept all emotions and take it in the right stride.
The special lunch  will have the six tastes ( அறுசுவை ) in the menu. I shall posts the six different tastes and their benefits/actions in our body on a  separate post.
Shall post one of the special dish, raw mango chutney ( மாங்காய் பச்சடி), prepared on that day in my next post.

Here is my altar on  tamil new year day.