Sarkarai Pongal - Jaggery Rice 

A sweet and rich dish normally made at festivity times or auspicious occasions like Thai Pongal, the first day of January in Tamil calendar to celebrate the harvest. This can also be served as a dessert.

Ingredients:

Red raw rice 2 cups
Green dhal (Cleaned split Moong dhal) ¼ cup
Water 4 cups
Coconut milk 1 cup
Jaggery 1 ½ cup
Ghee 1 tablespoon melted
Cardamom powder 1/4 teaspoons
Cadju nuts 2 tablespoons
Raisins 2 tablespoons

Method:

Dry roast the cadju nuts and chop them into smaller pieces.

Roast the green gram in a dry pan until it is slightly golden and the flavour emanates.

Wash the rice well and drain the water completely.

Boil the water in the pot and add the washed rice and the roasted green gram.

Cook in low heat until the rice is almost cooked.

If the rice is not well cooked, add boiling water to cook it well.

While the rice is cooking, crush the jaggery and dissolve it in the milk.

Sieve this mixture to get rid of lumps and any unwanted materials.

To this mixture add the cardamom powder.

When the rice is cooked, pour this mixture of jaggery and milk into the pot of rice and stir.

Now and the cadju, raisins and ghee and stir until the rice mixture is well mixed.

Simmer in low heat for 5 minutes until all the liquid has disappeared and rice appears gluey.

Please note that the rice will tend to stick to the bottom of the pot and to avoid this keep stirring well. 

This dish does not any accompaniments and can be eaten as is.