Vennai Puttu for ICC January

Srivalli chose vennai puttu, a traditional dish from Tamilnadu for this month's Indian cooking Challenge. Recipe source is Priya Suresh who shared her grandmother's recipe.
I would say that it was an interesting sweet dish and was more closer to halwa in consistency. 

Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1/2 cup jaggery powder (Check the notes.)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
2 Tbsp shredded or sliced fresh coconut pieces
1/4 cup cooked chana dal
Few cashew nuts to garnish (I used almonds)

Method:
* Soak rice overnight or at least for three hours. Throw away the water used to soak. Grind the rice finely adding a little water. It should be somewhat like idli batter.
* Meanwhile cook chana dal in a pressure cooker or in a sauce pan just until cooked. The dal should hold the shape and not turn mushy.
* Add 1/4 cup of water to jaggery and boil until it starts to turn foamy. There is no need to reach any threaded consistency. Strain the syrup and keep it aside.
* Boil 2 cups of water in a nonstick pan / heavy bottomed vessel. Add the ground rice paste to the water slowly and keep stirring continuously through the process. It starts to form lumps and so keep stirring to avoid it. Try to break the lumps any formed with the back of the ladle. Cook on medium flame until the rice paste is well cooked. You may have to continue to stir through out the process.
* Now add the jaggery syrup, cooked chana dal, cardamom powder and coconut to the cooked rice paste and stir well. Continue to cook until it turns into a solid mass and starts to leave the sides of the pan.
(I used a non stick pan and so, the paste was never stuck to the pan. And so this tip of the cooked puttu leaving the sides of the pan that  helps to determine the final stages may not work if using nonstick pan.)
* Pour this puttu on a greased plate and garnish with ghee toasted cashew pieces. I garnished with almonds and coconut. Let it cool completely and cut into slices.
* Refrigerate the leftovers. It will stay fresh only for a day if left at room temperature.

Note:
1. The quantity of jaggery powder mentioned was way too low for us. The dish had only a hint of sweetness and probably the jaggery powder should be somewhere between 3/4 - 1 cup.
2. I was not able to slice the puttu into pieces and so popped the puttu in the freezer for a few minutes and then sliced them.

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