My mom makes Chakkara pongali with a combination of jaggery and sugar, but this recipe uses all jaggery. The addition of cardamom, cloves and nutmeg makes this taste just like the ones served in the temples.
Milk - ½cup
Jaggery - 1~1½cups, powdered (adjust as per taste)
Cashews - 1tbsp
Raisins - 1tbsp
Ground cardamom - 1tsp
Ground Cloves - ¼tsp
Ground Nutmeg - ¼tsp
Saffron - a few strands
Method:
- Dry roast the green gram dal for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
- Wash rice and dal together and place them in a pressure cooker along with 1¼cups of water and the milk. Cook without the whistle for 20~30 minutes on medium flame till rice and dal are tender. Pressure cooking with whistle might cause the milk to boil over, so pressure cook without the whistle.
- Melt jaggery in ¼cup of water and simmer for a few minutes till the syrup thickens a little bit. Pour the syrup to cooked rice and dal. Simmer for a few minutes on medium-low flame. Turn off the heat.
- Heat 2tbsp ghee in a small pan, add the cashews and raisins and fry till golden. Add this to the pongal.
- Finally add the ground cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and saffron. Mix well and serve!!
Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: January -- Week 2'.