Brown Rice Sweet Pongal ~ South Indian Sweet Rice Pudding

 
Majority of us at home love the sweet version pongal and it is therefore a regular feature in my kitchen apart from being a Sankranti dish. I keep substituting the white rice with other healthy alternatives like I did with brown rice for today's version or this quinoa one here. For a more creamier and yummier version, the water used to cook the rice can be replaced by milk in half or full portion.

Ingredients: (Yield 2 servings)
1/4 cup brown rice
2 tbsp. moong dal (Split, yellow one)
1/4 cup full fat milk
2.5 tbsp. powdered jaggery / sugar
2 tbsp. shredded, fresh coconut
Ground seeds from 2 cardamom pods
A tiny pinch of edible camphor (optional)
1to 2 tbsp. ghee
1 tbsp. cashews & raisins

Method:
* Wash rice and moong dal in two exchanges of water and drain. Add a cup of water to rice and dal and pressure cook until rice is almost cooked mushy. Brown rice takes longer to cook and so it will take more than three whistles to cook if Indian style cooker is used. 
If cooking in a sauce pan, try to go with a non stick one if you have one. Add rice, dal and a cup of water and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat to lowest setting and cook. Keep an eye while the rice is cooking and keep adding water intermittently as needed and keep stirring. Soaking the rice in water for at least a couple of hours prior to cooking will cut down the cooking time. More than a cup of water is needed if cooking in a sauce pan.
* Heat ghee in a pan and toast the cashews and raisins until they turn golden and plump respectively. Transfer them to a small bowl. Add the pressure cooked rice - dal mixture, milk, coconut and sugar to the same pan and cook until almost the milk is absorbed. Add the ground cardamom, edible camphor if using and the toasted cashews - raisins to the cooked pongal and stir to combine. Turn off the stove and serve the pongal warm.  

This is my entry to
1. Blogging marathon #58
 
2. Srivalli's Kids' Delight event, hosted by Kalyani this month under the theme 'Cooking with Whole Grains'.

Comments