Wednesday, April 24, 2024

 

Milk Rice (Paal pongal)

This is a slightly different version than the pongal with more added coconut milk. This has a sweeter taste than the pongal.

Ingredients:

Red raw rice 2cups
Water 3 cups
Coconut milk 2 cup

Method:

Wash the rice and drain.

Boil the water in a pan and when boiled, add the rice and cook until the rice is half cooked.

Now add the milk and stir well and simmer in low heat until most of the liquid has disappeared. And the rice is gluey.

Take care not to allow the rice to stick at the bottom of the pan.

Serve with: Coconut sambal or can be eaten on its own.

 

 

Rice Porridge - Paal Kanchi

 

Ingredients:

Red raw rice 2 cups
Coconut milk 3 cups
Water 3 cups
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash and drain the rice.

In a pot boil the water and add the rice and continue to cook.

When the rice is soft add the coconut milk, salt and stir and continue to boil for two minutes.

Consistency should be of a thick soup.

Remove from fire and serve.

Serve withBest with Jaggery or very hot coconut sambal.

 

 

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.

 

 

Pongal

This is a sticky version of red raw rice cooked with little extra water to make it gluey. This is cooked on festive days like Thai pongal day or New Year's Day or even as a change. A little extra water is added to the rice while cooking so it comes out bit gluey.

Ingredients:

Red raw rice 2 cups
Water 4 ½ cups
Milk ½ cup

Method:

Just like any other rice, the rice is washed and drained well.

In a pot the water is boiled and when boiling, add the milk and wait for this to boil again.

Add the rice and cook in low heat until the water has been absorbed.

Take care to avoid this sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Serve with:

This is eaten with green gram dhal curry, white aubergine curry and coconut sambal and a dash of melted ghee. Adding yoghurt gives additional taste.