Rava Sakkarai Pongal, Semolina Jaggery Pudding

          Just a couple of days more for Pongal or Sankranthi, the harvest festival celebrated in India and the main dish that we make on that day, as everybody knows is Pongal. Apart from raw rice, I have tried Pongal with Broken Wheat, this time I thought I'll give it a try using rava/ semolina. I used Bansi Rava for making it, you can use regular semolina, but use the coarse variety. Also, I totally forgot my blog anniversary, it has turned two, I missed it, I remembered it only a couple of days back while reading another blog. I can't believe that my blog is two years old, in spite of a couple of moves, I've tried to keep my blog going. Stepping into the third year, I hope I'll be able to post more regularly without any long breaks and also I want to take part in more blog events, on that note let's move on to the recipe..

Need To Have

• Bansi Rava/ Semolina - 1/2 cup
• Moong Dal/ Split Husked Moong Dal - 1/4 cup
• Chana Dal/ Bengal Gram - 2 tablespoons
• Jaggery - 1 cup
• Milk - 1/4 cup
• Ghee - 7 teaspoons
• Cardamom Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Broken Cashews - 1 tablespoons
• Golden Raisins - 1 tablespoons

Method

          Dry roast both the dals till they turn golden, also roast the rava till you get a nice aroma. Pressure cook the dals with a cup of water.

          Roast the cashews and raisins in half a teaspoon of ghee, remove and keep.

          Melt the jaggery in 1/4 cup of water, filter it and keep.

          Once the pressure is released, take the dal in a heavy bottomed pan. Add 1/4 cup of milk and 1 cup of water to the dal and bring it to a boil. Add the rava with one hand, while stirring with the other, so that there are no lumps. Reduce the heat, cover and cook.

          Once the moisture is almost gone and the rava is almost cooked, add the jaggery syrup and 21/2 teaspoons of ghee, cover and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.

          Now the mixture will have a jam consistency, add the cardamom powder, cashews, raisins and the remaining ghee. Mix for a minute or two and switch off.

Note
Remove the pongal when it has a thick porridge consistency, it thickens as it cools.
Make sure you use a coarse variety of rava/ semolina.