Sakarai Pongal (Sweet Pongal)

Ingredients:

• Raw rice 250 grams (½ lb)
• Paasi paruppu (Moong dal) 50 grams (½ cup)
• Vellam (Jaggery/Brown sugar) 300 grams (¾ lb)
• Cashews 10 no
• Raisin (dry grapes) – 20 no
• Cardamom 10 split
• Coconut cut into tiny bits (1/2 cup)
• Ghee (clarified butter) 100 grams (½ cup)

Procedure:

1. Fry the moong dal in a pan without oil till it turns light brown
2. Mix the rice and dal together and and press cook (3 whistles +3 m sim) with water (3 to 4 cups of water for each cup of rice+dal). When cool, open the cooker and lightly smash the rice-dhal mix. Check the consistency, if watery, heat in sim mode further with constant mixing to get desired consistency
3. Heat ½ cup water in a pan with the brown sugar and boil till the syrup reaches the consistency where if you take a pinch of the syrup between your fingers it should be sticky and form a thread between the fingers
4. Remove from heat and mix the boiled rice to the syrup
5. Fry the cashews, raisins and coconut bits, each separately, in 2 tsp ghee till they brown lightly and add to the rice
6. Add crushed cardamoms and the left over ghee and mix well