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.
