Chakara Pongali

This is one of most typical sweets prepared for any festival or function in a traditional Andhra household. A rice and milk dish, it also has the maximum amount of versatility that one can find is any indian dish. You can add or take away any of the flavours, and the sweet would still taste yumm, your style! 🙂 When I say take away or keep, I meant all but the rice, channa dal and milk. One can replace the sugar with jaggery, but then it would be called bellam pongali.

What I’m writing about here is how we make it in my family.

Chakara Pongali

Ingredients:

• 1/2 ltr milk
• 1/2 cup rice
• 1 tbsp chana dal (senaga pappu)
• 3 tbsp sugar (chakara)
• 3-4 cardamoms (elaichi), pound to a fine powder
• pinch of pacha karpuram (edible camphor), optional
• cashewnut, raisins etc to taste.

Method:

• Take a 1 ltr capacity vessel and boil the 1/2 ltr milk in it.
• Meanwhile wash the rice and chana dal and set aside.
• Once the milk has boiled, add the rice + chana dal, and mix well to prevent clumping.
• Keep stirring intermittently to avoid clumping as well as sticking to the bottom of the vessel.
• Once the milk has reduces, and the rice has been completely cooked (grain becomes completely mashed when press), add the sugar.
• Keep stirring intermittently till single-string consistency.
• Turn off the flame, and add the elaichi and pacha karpuram and mix well.
• In a small wok, heat some ghee and add the cashwenuts.
• Roast till uniformly brown and take out of the ghee.
• Add the raisins to the ghee. Stir till all are puffed up and browned.
• Add the ghee and raisins to the pongali. Once the cashewnuts have cooled down, add them whole or broken into the Pongali.

Serve hot along with a regular meal.

Basundi

This amazing dessert happens to be one of the favourite of my hubby’s. So now that his birthday is around the corner, decided to make it for him 🙂

Basundi! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1.5 ltrs whole cream milk
• 1.5 cups of sugar

Method:

• Boil the milk while stirring it intermittently.
• After 10 mins the milk will start to change color. Keep Boiling.
• Boil till it reaches about 1/3rd of the original amount of milk. It will also have thickened quite a bit.
• Add the sugar and continue to boil till it reaches grainy consistency.
• Take off the flame and add dry fruits of choice. I prefer ghee-roasted cashews.
• Put into the fridge after cooling down.
• Serve cold.

This amount will give 10 servings.

Nuvvu(la) Laddu

This is yet another sweet that my sis-in-law made and sent across to Bangalore. The recipe seems to be really simple; I just need to implement it!! 😉

This sweet is a speciality of Andhra Pradesh, and is filled with good health. Nuvvulu (sesame seeds) are a very good source of calcium. So in case of lactose allergy, you can consider having sesame seeds. Also, the recipe requires jaggery, which is also is filled with health benefits.

Ingredients:
1/4 kg White nuvvulu (til/sesame seeds)
1/4 kg  jaggery
Additional ingredients: choice between groundnuts (lightly roasted), cashew nuts, or dry coconut

Method:

• Sift the white nuvvulu to clear all dust/stone particles.
• Lightly roast the seeds till it changes colour to brown. This needs to be carefully done, as a slight delay is turning off the flame would mean the seeds will get over-done.
• Set aside to cool.
• Chop or pound the jaggery into a fine powder.
• Take a choice of additional ingredient (roasted groundnuts, dry desiccated coconut or cashew nut)
• Coarsely grind all the ingredients together. This would mean 1/2 twists of the “Whip” button on your mixer-grinder.
• Take out from the mixer, and set aside for 5 mins.
• Make into small balls.

This sweet can be preserved at room temperature, and lasts upto 1 week without refrigeration.