Pongal Recipes

Happy Pongal, dear readers.

here are a few recipes for a look up..

    Sakkarai Pongal ~Traditional pot method

Ven Pongal  or Paal pongal ~Traditional pot method

Paal Pongal ~ Cooker Method

Akkaravadisal ~ Cooker Method

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Konda Kadalai Sundal for Navarathri

I amn't really very religious by nature. I do follow the festivals and recipes to the dot since I love that part of them. Navarathri is such a festival I enjoy visiting houses where I am invited, appreciating the 'Kolu', singing, exchanging 'kumkum' and flowers and savouring 'Sundal' prasadams. These days I am getting to know much about how the 'sundals' are related to the Navagrahas(the 9 celestials) and 'Navadhanyams' or the 9 cereals/pulses/legumes for the 'Navarathri' or the '9 nights' festival!

It's interesting!

Sunday – Sooriyan – Sun: Godumai (Wheat)
Monday – Chandran – Moon: Arisi (Rice)
(since it is not practical to make sundal out of these, generally they are broken and made as 'payasams' or 'puttu' as 'neivedyams')
Tuesday – Angarakan – Sevvai – Mars: Thuvarai (Thuvar Dhal)- Sundal can be made. Here's how I made with whole Thuvar grams.
Wednesday – Budhan – Mercury: pasi Payar (Green Gram)- Sundal can be made.
Thursday – Guru – Jupiter: Kadalai (Channa dal) or Konda Kadalai (Whole Channa or Cow peas) Recipe featured for today below!
Friday – Sukran – Venus: Mochai (White Dolicho Beans)
Saturday – Sani – Saturn: The tiny black Ellu seeds (Sesame Seeds) neivedyam can be 'ellu urundai' or the sesame seed balls.
8th day of Navarathri – Rahu: Kollu (Horse Gram)
9th day of Navarathri – Ketu: Uzhundu (Whole Urad )"Vadai" can be made. Here's the recipe for Vella Vedai made with a combination of jaggery and urad.

 The recipe for today is  Konda Kadalai Sundal, the Thursday's 'neivedyam' or the offering for Guru.

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Paal Pongal ~ 'The Rice and Milk Meal ' prepared for the Tamil Harvest Festival, 'Pongal'.

The devil called 'anxiety' gets hold me all of a sudden. I hear the door knocking in the middle of the night. I lay sleepless all night. The next day doctor confirms  I am hypertensive. Old advices. New course of drugs. In the morning I wake up to find there had been no water supply and the over head tank is already empty. To top up, the power shut down is extended. The kitchen door gets self locked ( or is there anybody inside since I heard some weird knocking sound the previous night!!) and I break in through the back yard door, smashing it (driven by some mysterious power ) to find no one inside. Relief for a moment but the stress shoots up again. I shout for no reasons. I blame the government for extracting exorbitant taxes from me giving back nothing I deserve! Water, electricity, safety...

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Pori Urundai / Sweetened Puffed Rice Balls) for Karthikai

Deepavali just got over and I can't believe the next festival is almost here!  Thiru Karthikai !
Deepavali and Karthikai have way different stories of origin according to Hindu Mythology but both the festivals are similar in two main aspects. Festivals of  lamps and light. Festivals of fresh sweets.

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Akkaravadisal ~ Food of the Gods!

         Tamil Nadu! The land of ancient culture and temple amuses anyone with the variety of divine sweets, being offered to God on auspicious occasions. Akkaravadisal is a preparation made almost like pal pongal or sakkarai pongal or to be precise it falls right in between the two, belonging to the Pongal family!
Akkaravadisal is offered to God ( Maha Vishnu?) for Koodaravalli.

This is a tried and tested recipe of the sweet, primarily cooked in a pressure cooker and then in a non stick kadai, a practical substitution to the traditional  bronze pot method.

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Fried Modakam

Modaks / Modakams, as you know, are the sweet dumplings offered as 'Neivedyam' for Lord Ganesha.(err.. hope I din't sound too formal) *cough *cough..

Well, now I can hear your asking, it's not the time to make it, no Ganesh festivals around the corner and why this recipe here?
The reason is nothing else other than that I wanted badly to click and blog 'a sweet' with my new cam, first, and hide those guilty feelings pinging me for not blogging 'something sweet and nice' for the past week festivals. I simply watched and let go lazily the Telugu, Tamil and the Malayalam New year passing by the consecutive days celebrated with much pomp around my town and the blogosphere :)

I have already posted the step by step recipe for Steamed Modakams prepared for the 'Chathurthi'.
This, as you see is the fried version which has longer shelf life and I feel a bit easier to make than the other one.


Fried Modakam  (yields around 25)

For the dough:
Maida / All purpose flour - 1/4 kg or 2 cups
Soda bicarb. - 2 pinches (optional)
Water- enough to knead into a soft dough
Ghee- 1 tbsp

For the filling:
Freshly grated shavings from a medium sized coconut (measure)
Crushed jaggery - half the quantity of the grated coconut, loosely packed in your measuring cup.
Cardamom powder - to flavour
Ghee - Atbsp


Ghee / Oil - to deep fry


Method:


Dough: 
Knead flour and water with soda bicarb to make a soft dough as for pooris. Addition of soda bicarb is optional. It lightens n crispens the shell with tiny bubbles once fried. You don't have to let the dough standRoll out into small balls and spread into thin (as thin as possible) pooris.Cut them into perfect rounds with the mouth of a katori. Let not the size of the poori overflow once placed on the bed of your palm.....just for an idea :)


Filling:
Heat half the tbsp of ghee in a non stick kadai.Add the grated coconut and the crushed jaggery together.Sauté for a few minutes to melt down the jaggery pieces and steam off the water content. Mix in Cardamom powder. 

Final assembly and deep frying:
Spoon a little of the filling in the centre or the poori and bring the edges on top by gentle gathers. Press and twist the top a little in order to stick the tip / secure the filling while deep frying. The Modakam should not be larger than a big gooseberry :)

Prepare the Modaks and spread a thin white wet cloth to prevent them from drying up. Heat ghee or oil in a kadai and fry few at a time till golden brown.

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Diwali Greetings!

Wishing you all a very Happy & Prosperous Diwali !

May the blessings of Peace, Prosperity and Happiness be with you on Diwali and always!

Click here if you're eager to know how I made these cuties ;)

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Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Pongal – The South Indian Harvest Festival, Celebrating Prosperity!

Welcome to our ancestral farm house in the lovely village of Erumaipetti, the beautiful native village of ours, which nestles picturesque farmlands of hard working farmers, located in the prosperous valley of Kolli hills of Tamil Nadu, South India.

I am here in this post to feature about Pongal, the Tamil Festival, which was celebrated traditionally, as always, in this ancestral home of our native village.
If you are interested to know more about the exact geographical location of this rural place, it’s here, here and here.

The rice, sugarcane and pulses, harvested in the Tamil month of 'Thai'(the period of Jan 15th-Feb 15th) as per the Tamil calendar, is cooked traditionally in bronze pots in the backyards of the farmers' houses, as an offering to ‘Sun God’, a way of thanking nature for the bestowal of prosperity.

The food prepared is also named after the festival, Pongal.

The main meal prepared consists of two;
Sarkkarai Pongal; Rice harvested fresh from the farm land, cooked with Pasi parippu(moong dal) and Vellam(jaggery/molasses) for the sweetness, flavoured with cardamom. Any Indian festival is associated with a sweet dish.:)
and
Pal Pongal; Rice cooked soft in fresh milk, from one’s own cattle or the dairy farm, with pasi paruppu.

Before we get into the thick of things, I would love to take you for a quick tour around the Bungalow :)



The Front yard of our Mighty 100 year old Ancestral Farm house.


As you step in...


The Entrance..


The Old fashioned carvings on the teak wood, you see above the door.


The 'Living'.


The place where the family used to serve food for a larger crowd, in olden days. At the farther end you can see dents on the walls on either sides of the door, where oil lamps were placed for light, when they had no luxury of electricity.The place is obviously not in use at present.


The intricate wood work on pillars.


The 19th Century English Chandeliers and Furniture adorn the formal drawing room, created during the British reign in India.


The Kolli Hills and the village as seen from the roof.


So, I am back for now, to the backyard, where the Pongal preparations have already started.Subramani, a great helper of ours, in the farmland assists us for the festival, every year.


A Majority of the cows were shifted to the farm the previous day and the cattle shed holds just Laxmi and her calf...if your eyes are more towards those patterns on the ground...


..I am here to explain...it's a Kolam.
Know more about the Kolam, here.


The pots with Pal Pongal and Sakkarai Pongal are lined up.
Generally a pot of each is prepared per house. Since we are a big family, we need 5 pots, each year ;)..3 pots of Pal Pongal and 2 of Sweet Pongal..
The firewood used, is again from the farms.


The first pan set, on the stove with Milk, Molasses and the Dal, to boil..


and now after the addition of Rice, the sweet Sakkarai Pongal gets cooked...


..with more firewood for a better flame.


Almost in its final stage.The stove is put off to regulate the heat since the heat of the Bronze pan facilitates the rest of the cooking, imparting that natural flavour to the Pongal..

Here's how to make Sakkarai Pongal, the traditional way-

Sakkarai Pongal

Newly harvested Raw rice - 2 cups
Jaggery- 500gms/2 balls/4 cups after grating
Pasi paruppu/moong dal- roasted lightly- 1/2 cup
Thick milk-3 cups
Fresh coconut gratings- 1/2 cup
A few cashew nuts and raisins fried separately in ghee(clarified butter)
Ghee/Clarified butter-2 tbsps(you can use this to fry the above two)
Cardamom powder- to flavour

Fill 3/4th level of the bronze pot with water with a little milk added to it. Place the pot on stove.When the water boils, stir in the moong dal.The water boils over due to the milk and dal in the pot and when it reaches the brink, and bubbles over, the family gathers round to shout 'Pongalo Pongal!', the loud cheer marking the festivity of 'Celebrating the Prosperity'!

Now, the water level has to be brought down to half the level, by transferring half of it to another vessel.When the dal in the pot is half cooked, add the washed raw rice.Keep stirring to facilitate even cooking.When cooked soft, add the grated/powdered jaggery, stirring all the while. Add a pinch of sea salt.Check the consistency at this stage and add milk little by little as it tends to boil over, again stirring continously.Add the transferred hot water if necessary.Stir in grated coconut, ghee( in which the cashews and raisins were fried) and cardamom powder when the Pongal in the pot is blended and cooked soft and mushy.Remove from fire and garnish with fried cashew nuts and raisins. Place for Pooja or the 'Prayer'.

'Taste testing' the food is not done as the pot has to be placed for Neivedyam/Pallayam, an offering to God.


The Kanji Thotti is prepared simultaneously for Pooja.



Now it's the turn for Pal Pongal, which is being mashed up with a heavy bronze ladle all the while getting cooked.


This is when we shout Pongalo Pongal! (meaning, may we welcome the prosperity!)right at that moment when the milk in the pot boils over! :)


While the kids are having their time in the front yard..


Subramani is busy with his work...


..a much conscious cook as he speeds up his work calculating the time with the golden rays of the setting sun..


Tulsi (basil leaves) and Poolai poo goes in the squares and stalks of grass inserted on the walls.The milk has to wait, till the Pooja starts.


The Sun is further down..


and Veeran..


sets up the Thoranam with a bunch of bamboo leaves on one end, to start with..


..and yeah..let me introduce Rajathi to you guys; the retired farmer maid, who was eager to see the family gathering.She's a typical old village woman in her brand new colourful Pongal Saree..:)


...back to Veeran who prepares the Decorative Line or the Thoranam.What you see here is fresh turmeric, again, pulled out from the farm, a 'must to be used ingredient' for the Thoranam, hung out on either ends.


Mango and Neem leaves are alternated with Poolai poo to set the thoranam with harvested Sugar Canes on either sides making the Line complete...
...hearing the loud sound of the beating drums, I couldn't help rushing to the front yard..:)...


..to confront the men representing the temple informing the house to get their cows ready..


and Laxmi hears them right!!..:)


Natesan and Veeran are already off to get her ready..


while Subramani is assisted by Veeramalai to attend to the pots.


and the hot hot Pal Pongal is finally ready

Here's Traditional Recipe for Pal Pongal..

Newly harvested Raw Rice-1 cup
Fresh Milk- 6 cups
Water-1 cup
Moong dal- a tsp
Salt-to taste

Wash rice, drain and keep aside. Mix milk and water together in a vessel, which would yield 7 cups. Transfer half the quantity to the bronze pot and bring to a boil. Add rice and and stir well.Minimise the flame to medium as the milk boils over the pot.To bring down the flame, a piece or two of wood is pulled out if cooked in a firewood stove as you see here.When the rice gets cooked and absorbs the liquid content, pour the remaining milk little by little, stirring all the while. A heavy bottomed utensil like a bronze pot is a must as the Pongal tends to stick to the base at this stage.Keep stirring with a bronze ladle until the rice is cooked and turns creamy and soft. Remove from fire. Place for Pooja.
Pongal tends to attain a harder consistency while cooling down.



The men are seen still busy chatting while the women of the family get ready for the Pooja...Oops... I'm in!.. I'm in!...:)


The Lady of the house, my mom-in-law, lights the lamp to announce the start of the Pooja.


so as to invite the families to assemble.


Subramani transfers a little of the Pongals for Neivedyam from the lined up Pots ready for the Pooja.


The fully decorated Thotti.
Pal Pongal and Milk are in the pits, finished off with Kadambam(a variety of colourful flowers on a string used for Pooja).


Coconuts and bananas play an important role here.


Coconuts are broken to halves and the water collected in a sombhu for Theertham, set aside the Pongal Pallayam; the two small heaps of both the Pongals with dents in the middle filled with fresh ghee, bits of jaggery and banana.


Next he takes out the samples from the rest of the pots ..


and the Pooja is performed.


The person who performs the Pooja is called a Pandaram or the Village Priest.


The neivedyam is offered to the cows after the Pooja, as they are considered sacred.


Laxmi with her painted horns and coloured skin awaits eagerly, while


Pandaram followed by the farmers, head to the cattle shed...


to feed Laxmi, the Pongal Pallayam, which has already been offered to God.
As soon she licks it off, clean..


..my dad in law, the master of the house, offers her favourite food; Bananas :)


Her calf is taken care of, next...:)


Towels are wrapped around the necks of the cow n calf


and are made to stamp past the decorated Thotti.The cows are led to the temple by the farmers.


The cows get back from the temple..


and the food is served to the men first on fresh green plantain leaves!


The food on the leaf.(The chandelier was kept 'dim' and hence the poor lighting here)

1. Pal Pongal (scroll up for recipe above)

2. Sakkarai Pongal (scroll up for recipe above)

and the accompaniments,

3. Thengai Thuvaiyal

4. Mochai sadam(nothing to do with Pongal; was served as one my aunts made that for us).
Find the recipe here.

5. Ennai Kathrikkai Kuzhambu/Tangy Eggplant Curry

6. Pasiparuppu/Tempered dal

The recipes of the other accompaniments will be posted soon.


The Dessert Section ;) ..Sorry for the intentionally blurred pic, folks :)

The eldest member, Aunt Indira holding the youngest, the 6 month old Ashwath :)!
If I had not mentioned earlier, it was a lovely Thanksgiving dinner that gathered all the four generations of the family.

A Few Afternotes from the Blogger

I just can't explain in words how glad I am for being selected as one among the 24 participants for the month's event!
I feel extremely proud to have show cased the festival of our country to the world and I have absolutely no words to Thank the Great Foodbuzz Team which made this possible!

The Ancestral Bungalow which has witnessed over 100 Pongal celebrations has seen the last this year as my parents-in-law are moving to a compact house in the nearby town.
On another note, Laxmi, the cow died, the very next day after Pongal due to snake bite.She was trying to chew out hay from the hay stack when was bitten by the snake on her tongue.


Thank You for going through the long long post probably the longest, posted in mine, so far!
Hope you enjoyed the same!

Lots of Love,
Bharathy :)

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