Sweet Pongal – Chakkera Pongali

This is a favorite desert for Sankranti festival in our house. Like semiya payasam, this also can be served hot or cold.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Rice
1/2 cup Mung dal (Pesara Pappu)
2 cups Milk
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Sugar
3 Cardamom – grounded
1/4 cup Ghee
10-15 Cashewnuts
2 tbsp Coconut pieces

Procedure

Heat a pan and fry cashew nuts and the coconut pieces separately in 2 tsps of ghee. Make sure coconut pieces are atleast 1/4 inch thick so that they do not get burnt. Using fresh coconut would enhance the overall taste. The coconut pieces can also be substituted using grated coconut. Just make sure that the grated coconut does not get burnt.

In another dry deep pot, toast the rice grains and the mung dal till they turn brown in color.Add water and milk slowly and cook on low heat till rice and dal are cooked. Now add sugar and cardamom powder.Cook till sugar dissloves. Keep stirring so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom. Add the remaning ghee. More sugar or ghee can be added according to your taste. Remove from the heat, garnish with cashew nuts & toasted coconut. Serve hot.

Notes & Tips

During the Sankranti festival this dish is prepared with the harvest rice. This is a very simple and tasty dish for any time. This can be done using any kind of rice, but using a sticky rice would keep the dish in shape. Do not use any rice that cooks dry like Basmati.

Semiya Payasam

A very common desert in our house is Semiya Payasam. This is a must for every festival. Sometimes I even prepare it as a breakfast. Its very filling and healthy too.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Vermicelli
2 tbsps Ghee
2 cups Milk
1/2 cup Water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsps Cashew nuts
15-20 golden raisins
2-3 Cardamom

Procedure

Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of ghee. Fry cashew nuts and then raisins separately. Remove them and add the remaining ghee to the pan. Add vermicelli and stir slowly till they turn to a golden color. Remove them to another plate and let them cool down a bit.
Bring the water to boil in a deep heavy bottomed pan and add milk. Bring the mixture to boil again. Now add vermicelli, and keep stirring. Cook vermicelli till it turns soft. Now add sugar and cardamom and cook in low heat for 3-5 mins or until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Garnish with raisins and cashew nuts. This can be served hot or cold. To serve it cold, let the mixture cool down to room temperature. Refridgerate it. The vermicilli will absorb all the milk and will turn hard.

Notes and Tips

The sugar can be added according to your taste.
Just add hot milk to the refrigerated payasam and serve it with milk .