Kalkandu Sakkarai Pongal with Rock Sugar and Saffron
Kalkandu Sakkarai Pongal is a popular festival offering to deities in Tamilnadu homes and at Chidambaram's Nataraja temple. Made of rice and moong dal lentils cooked together till very soft, slow cooked with rock candy sugar / mishri and saffron. Garnished with ghee and fried raisins.
Servings: 4 cups
Calories: 376kcal
Equipment
- Thick bottomed pan For slow cooking the rice and lentils
- 1 Pressure Cooker optional as slow cooking is best for this recipe
- 1 Small frying pan
- 1 Small mortar and pestle or small spice grinder/ processor
Ingredients
For Kalkandu Sakkarai Pongal
- ½ cup Rice
- 2 tablespoons Passi Paruppu Split skinless moong dal/ green gram lentils
- 2 cups Water For cooking the rice and dal
- 1 teaspoon Ghee
- ¾ cup Kalkandu Rock Candy/ Sugar Candy/ Mishri
- ½ cup Milk Optional: See post above and instructions below
- 1 pinch Salt
- 5 strands Saffron
- 1 pinch Ground Cardamom Freshly ground
- 1 pinch Ground Nutmeg Freshly ground
For Garnish/ Tempering
- 2 tablespoons Ghee
- 10 Cashew nuts split into halves
- 10 Raisins
Instructions
Preparation
- Rinse Rice and passi paruppu/ split moong dal (separately) several times till the water runs clear.Soak the washed rice and dal, again separately, in water that completely covers the surface, for about 20 minutes.Drain well.2. Meanwhile, powder cardamom and nutmeg, separately.
To Make Kalkandu Sakkarai Pongal
- Heat one teaspoon of ghee and roast the drained moong dal for about a minute on low heat, stirring frequently, till the colour just begins to darken and the aroma of the dal and ghee appears.Add drained rice. Roast, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes, on low heat.
- Transfer the rice and dal to thick bottomed pan and add water. Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat and cook, partly covered, till the rice and dal are soft (but not mushy). Stir once in a while, checking that there is sufficient water and it is not 'catching' at the bottom of the pan.Alternative: The roasted rice and dal may be pressure cooked till soft and once the cooker lets off all the steam by itself, transferred to a thick bottomed pan for the rest of the process.Mash the cooked rice and dal well with the back of a ladle, while still hot.
- Add the kalkandu/ rock sugar. Allow it to dissolve, on low heat. It may take about 10 minutes to dissolve completely. Stir frequently.Add milk, if using. Allow to cook on slow heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. [Note: As explained in the post above, the temple recipe that I follow here does not use milk. However as it is conventional to make a milk based pongal dish for the Thai Pongal festival, Im providing the option here.]Add just a pinch of salt, stir it in.
- Add strands of saffron. Stir gently for about 2 minutes while the saffron is infused into the rice-dal-sugar mixture. The rice usually turns a very pale/ light yellow hue at this stage, depending on the intensity/ quality/ freshness of the saffron.
- Add powdered cardamom and nutmeg. Freshly ground spices are best, though store bought spice powders may be used instead.Stir the kalkandu sakkarai pongal and remove from the stove.
Tempering
- Heat ghee. Ghee greatly enhances the flavour and aroma of the dish and I use at least 2 tablespoons for this volume of pongal.On low heat, fry cashew nuts till golden. Drain and remove before they darken to brown (about 1 minute)Again on low heat, fry the raisins till they puff up (about 1 minute). Drain and remove before they darken further.Pour the cashew, raisins and ghee in the tempering pan, on the Kalkandu Sakkarai Pongal. Serve it hot.
- This makes a delicious naivedyam for Pongal or any festival or as a sweet. Or for breakfast, with vadai.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 376kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 33mg | Potassium: 183mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 59IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 1mg
