Sweet Pongal

Preparation

• De-seed cardamom and powder it finely using mortar and pestle. Keep it ready.
• Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a seasoning pan and fry cashews, raisins and grated coconut one after the other. Cashews and coconut change in color and raisins puff up after frying. If you are using copra, then not need of roasting.

Method

1. Take the split green lentils in a wide pan or wok and roast them till aromatic in medium flame. The lentils turn brown and aroma wafts out within few minutes. Switch off the flame then.
2. Rinse raw rice in enough water and add it to cooker along with roasted green lentils. Add around 1.5 cups of water and cook for 3 whistles and 5 minutes in simmer.
3. When the pressure subsides, open the lid and roughly mash cooked rice, lentils using back of ladle and keep it ready. Meanwhile heat jaggery powder in heavy bottom wok with 1/4 cup of water. The jaggery dissolves and starts bubbling.
4. Now mix the cooked rice and lentils with jaggery syrup. Add some water and cook for few minutes. Include ghee roasted cashews, raisins and grated coconut or copra. Add cardamom powder, camphor and nutmeg powder too. Pour remaining ghee and combine everything together.
5. Divine tasting sweet pongal is ready to serve.

Notes

• Do not let the green lentils to burn when roasting. Keep stirring to avoid burning.
• Do not skip pinch of edible camphor powder as it adds extra flavor.
• Sweet pongal has the tendency to become thicker with time, so make sure it is of running consistency initially.
• You can chop coconut in to bite sized pieces too instead of grating it.
• I have added only half cup of jaggery as we don’t have sweet teeth, but I recommend 3/4 to 1 cup of jaggery for the genuine taste.