Thinai Sarkarai Pongal | Millet Sweet Pongal | Pongal Recipes | Millet Recipes

At times all you need is something healthy. At times all you need is something comforting and at times all you need is some sarkarai pongal. Sarkarai pongal to me is simply home... Amma's sarkarai pongal is the best. It hits every note right, not overpoweringly sweet, the right amount of ghee, correct consistency and is perfection in every aspect. My son loves sarkarai pongal and I make it a point to make it for him once every two weeks and sometimes I sneak in healthiness like this, by subbing the rice for millet. He never finds a difference and its a win-win for both of us. You can use any kind of millet here - kodo, jowar, barnyard or anything.

~*What U Need*~ Fox millet / Thinai - 1/2 cup Moongdal - 1/4 cup Jaggery - 1/2 - 3/4 cup Saffron - 4 to 5 strands Cardamom - 2 to 3 crushed Cashewnuts - a handful Raisins - 1 tbsp Ghee - 2 to 3 tbsp Water - as needed How I Made it: Wash and soak the millet and set aside. Heat 1/2 tsp ghee in the pressure cooker and fry the moongdhal till it turns light brown. Add the soaked and drained millet to this, add 2 1/2 cups of water and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Meanwhile, heat the jaggery with 2-3 tbsps of water till the jaggery melts. Strain the syrup and set aside. Once the pressure subsides, remove the lid, add the strained jaggery syrup and heat the mixture in medium heat for 3 - 4 mins. Remove from the flame. Roast the nuts and raisins in ghee. Add the nuts, ghee, saffron and cardamom to the pongal and mix well.

Serve warm.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,
Vimitha
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Happy Pongal | Compilation of Pongal recipes

Wishing everyone a happy pongal. Heres a compilation of pongal recipes from my kitchen.

                 Chakkari Pongal                                          Paal Venpongal                                Kalkandu Baath
  

              Venpongal                                                Sarkari Pongal                        

 

                Medhu vadai                                            Paruppu Vadai                                                    Sabudana Vada

         

            Coconut Rava Laddoos                             Nei Rava Laddoos                             Pineapple Rava Kesari

  

      Fresh Pineapple kesari                              Semiya Kesari                                    Rava Kesari

  

            Moongdhal Payasam                 Semiya Payasam with Jaggery           Simple Semiya Payasam

  

    Aval Payasam                                Sago Payasam
  

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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Kalkandu Baath / Kalkandu Pongal/ Sugar Candy Rice | Pongal Recipes

Wishing all my dear readers a Happy Pongal a.k.a. Makara Sakranti wishes

Tomorrow starts a new season, the first day of the harvest season and its beaming festivity everywhere. Back home, preparations start a day before for us. Appa gets the karumbu (sugarcane), fresh turmeric and ginger plants which we keep at the time of pooja. Unlike other festivals, for Pongal vegetables mainly root veggies are kept during pooja since it is a harvest festival. We pray to the Sun god for a good harvest and that is what the whole festival is about.

We always keep Pongal in large brass pots in our porch ~ the traditional way and it is Appa who makes the fire in a three-stone stove. So the day before the festival, the big pots are brought down from the attic, cleaned and wiped dry. Amma then puts manjal-kungumam to the pots. The night before, we put a very big kolam with color kola podi in front of our house. We wake up early morning and by early morning it is 4 o'clock for us, amma is so strict in this. A freezing cold water bath, new dresses, pongal celebrations before 6 o'clock (its tradition that the pongal should flow before or by the sun rised), a steaming plate of pongal with some hot crisp vadas is how we celebrate the day. Lunch is the traditional steamed rice, sambar, aviyal, koorka poriyal,vada and payasam in a banana leaf.
This is baby munchkins' first Pongal and hence it is the traditional pongal celebrations for us. Shopping is done, pots cleaned and wiped, kolam design finalised and everything is set to go.

Posting a recipe for this Pongal was never in my list. The original plan was a post consolidating all the Pongal recipes available in my space. Then I got a mail from a reader asking for the Kalkandu baath/pongal recipe. I have heard about this from my MIL other than that I had no idea about the dish. And then I came across a TV program featuring Chef Jacob (RIP to him. They still telecast his shows. Money-minded *****s). He didn't add moong dhal to the dish and this is his way.

~*What U Need*~ Raw Rice / Paccharisi - 1/2 cup Sugar Candy/Kalkandu - 1/2 cup or 50 gms Water - 2 cups Ghee - 2 tbsps or more Broken Cashews - 2 tbsp Raisins - 2 tbsp Elaichi - 1/4 tsp

How I made it:
Powder the kalkandu and keep aside. This step is purely optional. The heat itself melts the kalkandu. Wash rice and soak for half an hour. Drain rice from water and in a pressure cooker, add 2 cups of water along with the rice and cook for 4-5 whistles. Let pressure release by self. After done, mash it. If the water has drained fully, then add 1/4 water and cook over low heat. Add the sugar candy and allow to melt.

Add the elaichi powder and cook to desired consistency. Heat ghee in a saucepan, add the raisins and cashews and cook till puffy and brown. Add this to the rice, mix well and remove from heat.

Serve hot!!!

** My Notes:
** You could use 1/2 cup milk also
** You can add 2 tbsp of roasted moongdhal when pressure cooking the rice.
** Increase quantity of sugar candy and ghee if needed.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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Day 9#: Pachaipayaru Inji Sundal | Navarathiri Recipes & Saraswathi Pooja Wishes

Happy Saraswathi pooja and Ayudha pooja wishes to all my dear readers. Hope you had a great day today. Its been a long and hectic day for me with all the cleaning and wiping. And when done with that I had to prep up for the evening pooja... Whew... I actually wanted to postpone this post to tomorrow but then the lil one started his night early and I had some 'me'-time and the huss was away from the PC and so I sat to frame the post.

I made Sarkarai Pongal and Pachaipayaru sundal for neivedhiyam today. Both easy to make recipes and that is what I wanted after all the work done today. Some easy-peesy dishes that will not take too much time in the kitchen. I already have a sarkarai pongal recipe in my space but that uses a pongal pot. So I decided to put up one which can be made in 30 mins and which uses a pressure cooker. Off to the recipes.

~*What U Need*~ Raw rice / Pacharisi - 1 cup Moong dhal - 3 tbsp Thinly sliced and cut Coconut - 2 tbsp Jaggery - 3/4 cup Water - 2 tbsp + 1/4 cup Broken Cashews & Raisins - a handful Ghee - 3 tbsp Cardamom powder - a generous pinch

How I made it:
Soak rice and moong dhal in water for 1 hour. Add 2 tbsp water to jaggery and boil till the jaggery melts. Strain to remove impurities.

Pressure cook rice and moong dhal with 1/4 cup of water for 3 whistles till soft and mushy. Add jaggery syrup and mix well. If required add some more water and bring it to porridge consistency.

Meanwhile, heat ghee, fry the cashews and raisins till golden brown and puffy. Also fry the coconut till light brown.

When the mixture starts to boils again, add the ghee, cashews, raisins, coconut, elaichi powder and give it a stir. Serve hot!

~*What U Need*~ Green gram - 1/2 cup Grated Fresh Coconut - 2 tbsp Grated ginger - 1 tsp Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp Urad Dal - 1/4 tsp Dried Red Chillies - 1-2 Curry Leaves - 1 sprig Turmeric powder - a pinch Hing - a small pinch Salt, Oil

How I Made it:
Soak the green gram for 2 to 3 hours. Rinse and drain. Pressure cook for 2 whistles. till soft. Drain and set aside.Heat 1 tsp oil in pan. Add the mustard seeds, urad dal and let them splutter. Add the broken red chillies, curry leaves, ginger and hing and fry for a few seconds.

Now add the cooked green gram and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the grated fresh coconut and salt to it and mix well. Remove from flame. Serve hot!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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Parupppu Vadai/Chana Dhal Croquettes... its snack time

Paruppu Vadai is a perfect tea-time snack. The crunchy vada makes a yummy combination for a garam chai... Hot vadas, hot chai, today's paper, rainy climate, cosy couch !!! Awesome situation na. :)
We usually spice up the tea with some ginger whenever we have it with vadas... When not chai, it is generally coconut chutney that mom makes to have with masala vadas. This is my mom's recipe. However tried my vadas never turn as perfect as hers. Maybe that is what kai pakkuvam.

~*What U Need*~
Chana Dhal - 1 cup
Onion(medium) - 1 / Pearl onions - 10
Red chilli - 1
Green chilli - 2
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Hing powder - a pinch
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Salt - to taste
Oil

How I Made it:
Soak the chana dhal overnight. Chop the onions, green chillies and curry leaves finely. In a blender, add the chana dhal, red chilli and fennel seeds. Pulse it 2 - 3 times. You should have some whole chana dhal here and there.
Put this mixture in a bowl, add chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves, hing and salt and mix well. Pinch lemon sized balls and flatten in palm. Heat oil and deep fry till evenly brown.
Remove excess oil using tissue paper. Serve with coconut chutney.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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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,

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