There is a festival called Pongal. So need I say how important this dish is to the Tamils?
During Navrathri, Tamil Iyers - Iyengars serve Goddess Mother, this sweet dish made with Jaggery and rice. It is wholesome as it has rice, dal and ghee. It is very famous in Tamil Nadu. The savory variety of this dish is called Ven Pongal.
Ingredients:
Rice - 1/2 cup
Pasiparippu / cheru parippu / green gram dal - 1/8 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cashewnuts - 10
Raisins / dried grapes - 1 tbsp
Cardamom - 2 pods, powdered
Method:
Heat the rice for a minute in a hot pan and keep aside.
Fry the dal in the same pan on low heat till good smell comes.
Now mix the rice and dal together and wash well.
Cook in a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water for 7 whistles.
Boil the jaggery in 1 cup water and strain to remove impurities.
Boil the strained jaggery for 2-3 minutes.
Mash the cooked rice and dal and add this to the jaggery.
Mix well and bring to a boil.
The mixture should be loose and jiggly like a jelly. Add more water , if necessary.
Take half of the ghee and fry raisins in it.
Add this to the pongal.
In the rest of the ghee, fry the cashewnuts till golden brwon and add to the pongal.
Also add the cardamom powder.
Mix well and serve hot.
Note:
Since my family has settled down in Kerala for centuries (I am the 14th generation), we have a bit of Kerala influence in our cooking. Therefore coconut finds a way into most of the dishes. In this recipe, my mother-in-law adds coconut (4 tsp) to the boiling jaggery, before adding the rice to it. This is NOT there in the original Pongal recipe. Just what we do at home.
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