Shakkara Pongal
A dish popularly eaten during Pongal or the end of the harvesting season which is considered the South Indian New Year, around our Poush Sankranti, is the Shakkara Pongal or 'sweet rice lentil dish'.
Ingredients
100ml pure ghee
30g cashews
2 tbsp raisins
150g split yellow lentils (moong dal)
250g basmati rice
350ml milk
150g-200g jaggery
½ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground star anise
Method
Melt the ghee in a large frying pan over medium heat; fry the cashews and raisins in the melted ghee until the cashews are brown, about 5 minutes. Remove the cashews and raisins from the frying pan, set aside and add the lentils to the frying pan and fry in the ghee until fragrant. Stir in the rice, milk, jaggery and cardamom with the lentils. Cook like any normal 'polao' or until the rice is tender, adding water as needed to keep moist, about 30 minutes.
Serving --
Mix the cashews and raisins into the mixture to serve and sprinkle some mint leaves on top.
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