Sweet Pongal

Sankranti festival is not complete without sweet pongal and khara Pongal recipe.

Here is what you need.

Rice..........................................1 cup

moong dal................................0.5 cup

Jaggery roughly powdered......11/4cup.

whole milk...............................1/2 cup
pacha karpoora...................... ..a pinch(optional)

ghee..........................................2 Tbspn

elachi........................................3

cloves.......................................4

saffron strands..........................5-6

cashew pieces...........................1 Tbspn

raisin.........................................1 tspn

water to pressure cook and adjust consistency.

Here is how to do

1)Lightly roast moong dal in low flame for 3 min or till u get nice aroma.Dont make it black or brown.

2)Wash the rice and roasted dal and pressure cook with two times of water.Sometimes it may require a little more or less water depending on how old is the rice.Old rice requires more water.

3)In a thick bottom vessel,tranfer the cooked dal rice,add jaggery,milk,around half cup water.In a medium flame bring it it boil .Let the jaggery melt completely and allow few more minutes to boil.At this time u can check to see if u need some more jaggery next add a pinch of edible camphor.
.Also make sure u keep stirring now and then as it has high tendency to stick in the vessel and burn.

4)Now lets add tempering.Heat ghee once it melts add cashew,raisin,cloves,elachi.When cashew turns light golden brown and raisin swells up.Add it to pongal.

5) Give a good mix keep it in low flame for 3-4 min.

6)Sweet Pongal is ready to enjoy with khara pongal.


Note-Edible camphor/cooking camphor gives very nice aroma to the pongal.Make sure u add a pinch,just like u need hing/asafetida.In temple prasada they usually add pacha karpoora to sweet pongal.

You can opt out milk and add just water if u prefer.