Chakkara Pongal

Ingredients:
Rice (uncooked): 1 cup
Green gram split without skin (Moong dal): ¼ cup
Jaggery (Gud) or brown sugar: ½ cup
Chopped cashews: 1 teaspoon
Raisins (kishmish): 1 teaspoon
Cardamom (Elaichi) powder: a pinch
Chopped (or grated) coconut: 1 teaspoon
Ghee: 2 teaspoons

Method:

1.Cook rice and dal in a pressure cooker with 2½-3 cups of water. Keep ready before you proceed.
2.Fry the cashews and raisins in the ghee and set aside.
3.Heat half cup of water in a heavy-bottomed vessel large enough to hold the pongal. Crush the jaggery into pieces and add to the water to dissolve.
4.Once the jaggery is completely dissolved, turn off the heat and set aside to allow settling of any particles. After about 2-3 minutes, filter the solution to remove any foreign particles.
5.Rinse the vessel and pour the jaggery solution back to the vessel and place on heat to boil.
6.Once the jaggery solution boils, add the cooked rice/dal mixture to it. Mix well so that all the rice/dal is coated with jaggery. You may turn the heat off for a short while if you can’t manage mixing the pongal on heat.
7.Turn the heat to low and stir well till the pongal thickens well. This will take about 5 minutes.
8.Now, add the cashews and raisins with the ghee to the pongal. Also, add the coconut and cardamom powder. Mix all these things well into the pongal. The color of the pongal depends on the color of the jaggery. This one was light colored.
9.Heat for a minute or so and take off the heat. Pongal is ready to serve