THE EVER ELUSIVE PERFECT ‘CHAKKARA PONGAL’!

The month of Maargazhi, and its crowning end, the first day of the Tamil Month of Thai (celebrated as Pongal festival in Tamil Nadu), is famous for various reasons. But to me, the main reason I love the month and the festival, is Chakkara Pongal. The exquisite south Indian delicacy made of Rice, Jaggery and Milk looks simple with few ingredients, but is somewhat tricky to make. Being a foodie in my mid-twenties, I have been to the kitchen a fair share of times in the recent years, but the technique to get the perfect ‘Chakkara Pongal’ eluded me until recently

          It did look fairly simple when year after year my mom brought it to the table, hot, perfectly made, with the ghee shimmering on its surface, decorated with cashews. I spared little thought to this delicacy when it managed to be the same every year – the semi solid consistency, that hardens as it cools and the perfect blend of jaggery, spices and milk that is neither too sweet, nor bland, and of course, the tantalisingly sinful cashews and raisins roasted in ghee. This Maargazhi (it is traditionally prepared in my house the first day of every Maargazhi and on Pongal festival) I took up the challenge of preparing this sweet.

          My mother, to give her credit, looked pleasantly surprised when I said I would prepare ‘chakkara pongal’. But that pleasant surprise soon turned to horror when she saw my method of preparation. For I had not asked her the method, and had instead relied upon internet sources for the recipe. My vain and conceited cooking attempt shattered my pride as the chakkara pongal turned thick, hard and of course, really coarse – not at all how my mom had made it every year. Any hopes of becoming even half the chef she was crashed around my ears as I realised that though the internet has recipes in abundance, there are very few that give the tips and tricks necessary to make the perfect dish.

          My misadventures apart, my mom patiently corrected my disaster (it takes even more experience and knack to do that). And before my family was any the wiser, the chakkara pongal was presented to the Lord and eaten with little complaint. When all the hullabaloo was over, I forcibly cornered my mom and asked her the ‘brahma rahasyam’. When she did explain it, it was so absurdly simple that I felt foolish for not having thought of it before. I will never make the mistake again, and will surely follow my mom’s version of recipes in future.

          A casual comment from a friend sparked me into action – writing the specially altered recipe. It is not only me, many people would benefit from the misadventures and corrections I made. So, to help those hopeless cooks, without much ado, I am presenting here my mother’s version of the famous delicacy, and though it may offend some purists, this version is technically acceptable, and trust me, yields a far better end product. The ingredients are same, but there are few changes in the traditional method.

ITEMS REQUIRED:

Rice – 1 cup

Jaggery – 3 cups

Milk (Thicker, the better) – 2 cup

Moong Dal – 1 teaspoon (this is optional, for auspicious occasions, in some traditions)

Clarified Butter (Ghee) – 150 – 200 grams*

Cashewnuts – 50 grams*

Raisins – 25 grams*

Almonds – 25 grams*

Elaichi – 5 nos.

Cooking camphor, Jaadhikkai (if preferred, though my recipe doesn’t count on it!)

Water – as required.

(* - indicates that you could add more of it if required, but this is optimal. Any more ghee would make it too oily and any more nuts and dried fruits would ruin the presence of the main ingredient. You can add if you prefer!)

THE METHOD:

1.     Take a thick bottomed bronze pot (or any pot shaped vessel – these are the best for making the dish). The bronze pot is traditionally used in our houses.

2.     Add one and a half cups of water (you could add a maximum of two cups, depending on the quality of the rice you are using – anything more would make it liquidish)

3.     When the water has come to a boil, add one cup of rice and the teaspoon of moong dal. Again, this is part of our habit. Avoid it if you prefer!

4.     Stir until the rice is half cooked. (It must be neither too hard, nor too squishy)

5.     Once the rice reaches the semi squashed state, add two cups of milk, as thick as you can get it

TIP: Make sure the milk is thick enough, as this gives a creamy texture to the dish. The milk needs to be pre-boiled (this is for beginners. When you use milk directly from the packet, there is a mild chance of it getting curdled. Boiling it beforehand would remove any doubts you have about that. This step is unnecessary for those of you who have prior experience in the kitchen.

6.     Once you add the milk, stir well and watch as the contents magically become semi solid.

TIP: Once you add the milk, the thick consistency will water down a lot, but not to worry, it will thicken as it boils. Again, this explanation is for beginners like me. Old hands know this well.

7.     Now take the jaggery, in the ratio of 3:1. That is three cups jaggery for every cup of rice you have used.

NOTE: Now, this is where the recipe veers from tradition and practice. The next step is to be carefully noted and followed for best results.

8.     In a separate thick bottomed pan, take jaggery and dissolve it in water. (add only the water enough to totally submerge the jaggery.)

TIP: Grate the jaggery finely before you prepare the syrup. This will help you cook faster and also make sure it dissolves evenly

9.     Once jaggery is completely dissolved in the water, filter the contents (this removes the silt and mud nowadays found in abundance in the shop bought product).

10. Take the filtered liquid and let it boil to get jaggery syrup (also called as ‘paagu’)

TIP: When the syrup is boiling, it is very important to find the correct consistency. Again, beginners note. Experienced cooks kindly ignore this tip!

To know if jaggery syrup is of the correct consistency, take a cup and fill it around half with water. Using a ladle or spoon, take a drop of the boiling syrup and pour it into the water in the cup. If the syrup dissolves, it is not ready. If, on the other hand, it hardens and you are able to take out the drop and roll it into a bead in your hands (trust me, you could really do this with the syrup that appears liquid). If the syrup drop has hardened into a bead of sorts, congratulations, your syrup is in perfect consistency. Proceed to the next step. Oh, and switch off the stove immediately!

11. Now, if you haven’t forgotten, the rice and milk mixture is boiling in the bronze pot. Add the hot jaggery syrup to this pot.

NOTE: For that, we have to first make sure the pot has to be big enough to hold all this. NO offense, folks, I have seen people who lost this step because they had small bronze pots.

12. Stir well until the rice and jaggery syrup mix evenly. The mixture will thicken as it comes to a boil.

13. Put the stove on low flame and keep stirring until it thickens.

14. At this stage, you can add the crushed elaichi (or powder it, if you wish!) and the cooking camphor and jaathikkai if you wish.

TIP: Practice extreme caution while adding the camphor and jaathikkai. Too much of this will make the whole dish bitter and smell strong. Which is why we have always avoided using this.

15. In another pan, heat the ghee and add the dry fruits as specified.

TIP: While adding the specified dry fruits, always add the almonds first as they take a long time to fry. You could cut the almond into thin slices or halves or as you wish. Then, when they are half done, add the cashew nuts (these can be added whole or split into halves) and finally add the raisins and switch off the stove once the raisins become light and puffy. You could even switch off before adding the raisins because the heat is enough to fry them. Never fry the cashew nuts until they are visibly brown – that is a sign that they are burnt.

16. Add the roasted dry fruits to this mixture in the pot and stir well.

TIP: keep aside a part of these fried nuts and add once the mixture has been poured onto a serving pot. This works well as garnish!

17. That’s it, you are done!

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

1.     The jaggery is made into a syrup instead of being added directly because this makes sure the chakkara pongal is not spoilt easily and has even consistency throughout.

2.     The rice is cooked in milk instead of water to give the dish a creamy feel. Trust me, this makes a HUGE difference.

3.     Try to keep the gas on low flame whenever you see the risk of the contents overflowing or if they stick to the vessel. There is always the risk of the dish getting burnt.