Chakkara Pongali | Sweet Pongal

Chakkara Pongali, as the name says Chakkara means sugar & Pongal means the boiling of milk. This pongal is generally made for sankranthi festival, but at my grand mom's place it was made for almost all festivals. This is one of the sweet dishes which is on high demand among kids. Generally when I visit my mom, she gives me options of my favorite dishes which she can cook for me & for me it's always Chakkara Pongali. 
I made this sweet on one of 9days of Navratri festival as a prashad to goddess. The one ingredient I missed is "Edible camphor/Pacha Karpooram" which is not available for me in near by Indian stores, but addition of that will make this dish much tempting & flavorful. Chakkara Pongali is little dry in consistency when compared to rice pravanam or rice kheer dishes.
Enjoy !!!

Prep Time-1hr5mins {Soaking + arranging things needed}
Cook Time-30mins to 45mins
Serves-4people
Ingredients
1Cup rice
2Tbs chana dal
2&1/2Cups milk
1Cup sugar
2tbs water
2Tsp cardamon powder
1/4cup ghee/butter
2Tbs cashews
1Tbs raisins
2Tbs finely chopped coconut pieces
Directions

- Soak rice & chana dal for 1hr. After 1hr strain water & keep aside.
- Next in a deep pan take 2cups milk & bring it to boil. Add strained rice & chana dal to milk.
- Cook on low heat until the rice absorbs milk, then add in left 1/2Cup milk. by now rice will be almost cooked.
- Cook on low heat till the rice is cooked well. It might take around 15mins for a perfect cooked rice.

- Mean while in a bowl bring sugar & 2tbs water to boil. Allow the mixture to come together to a thick consistency. Switch off heat & mix it with cooked rice.
- Place the pongal pan on stove. Now cook on low heat till the little left liquids disappear & it becomes thick. Switch off heat.

- Mean while heat a pan with ghee. To that add cashew, coconut pieces & raisins. Fry them till cashews are lightly browned, raisins are puffed & coconut pieces are lightly browned.
- Mix with the cooked pongal & chakkara pongali is ready to serve.
Note
- You can pressure cook the rice, but it will mess up the stove when milk spills out. So for me it's a big no. 
- Coconuts add a nice flavor to this sweet. You can skip them if you are not a fan of them.
- Don't reduce the ghee/butter content, it brings yum taste to the dish.

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