Chakkarai & Paal Ven Pongal | Pongal Recipes

Hi frnds, hope you had a blast celebrating pongal, maatu pongal and kaanam pongal. The past 2 days have been flying like seconds with all the pongal celebrations, family get-togethers and catching up with the newly released films ;). I went to watch Vettai with a personal review that Vijay would have ruined the Tamil version of 3 Idiots but when I heard reviews that he had done a good job, I was flabbergasted. Added to that Vettai was not-even-you-can-see-once film. God the film part sucked. But the rest of the weekend was awesome. Enjoyed making pongal, chatting, watching tv and spending time with relations.

As everyone does, I made the pongal traditionally too.. - chakkarai pongal and paal ven pongal in pongal pots. You should have heard the suprised tone that my mom gave when I told her. She didnt expect me to put this much effort when I was pregnant. The huss took charge this time owing to my condition and assissted me a lot. Hope this would continue the next year too. So coming on to the recipes. I know tat I am late, but sorry was held up the whole weekend and didnt have time to post.

Chakarai Pongal
~*What U Need*~
Raw Rice / pacharisi - 1 cup
Moong dhal - 3 tbsps
Thinly sliced and cut Coconut - 2 tbsp
Jaggery -3/4 cup
Broken Cashews & Raisins - a handful
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Milk - 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder - a generous pinch

How I Made it:
Dry roast moong dhal and keep aside. Clean the rice. Add 1/2 cup of water to the jaggery and boil till the jaggery melts. Strain to remove impurities.
Add water to 3/4th of the pongal pot, then add 1/2 cup of milk. Allow it to boil in high flame. The water will rise and fall off the pot. This is where u cry "Pongal-o-Pongal" :)
Remove water as you need from the pot (1 1/2 to 2 cups of water would do in the pot). Add the rice and moongdhal. Now add remaining milk and mix well. Allow rice to cook till mushy.
After the rice is cooked well, add jaggery syrup and mix well. Let the rice be semi-runny because this will solidify once cooled down.
Heat ghee, fry the cashews and raisins till golden brown and puffy. Also fry the coconut till light brown. Add the ghee, cashews, raisins, coconut, elaichi powder and give it a stir.
Serve hot! Best when served in banana leaf ;)

Paal Ven Pongal
~*What U Need*~
Raw Rice / Pacharisi - 1 cup
Moong dhal - 1/4 cup
Thinly sliced and cut Coconut - 2 tbsp
Cashews - few broken and fried in ghee
Milk - 3/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp

Optional:
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Ginger(finely cut) - 1 tsp
Green chilli(finely chopped) - 1
Peppercorns – 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder – a pinch

How I Made it:
Dry roast moong dhal and keep aside. Clean the rice. Add water to 3/4th of the pongal pot, then add 1/2 cup of milk. Allow it to boil in high flame. The water will rise and fall off the pot.
Remove water as you need from the pot (1 1/2 to 2 cups of water would do in the pot). Add the rice and moongdhal. Now add remaining milk and mix well. Allow rice to cook till mushy. After the rice is cooked well, add coconut, ghee and ghee fried cashews. Mix well. Serve hot.

Tempering this rice is purely optional. If needed, heat ghee, add mustard seeds and when spluttered, add curry leaves. Once fried, add peppercorns, ginger and chilli and fry well. Add
Asafoetida powder and add this mixture to the rice. Mix well.

Any veg gravy will go along with this very well, we had it with Paruppu kulambu and taro root roast.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!