SweetPongal

SweetPongal:

A perfect lunch should have atleast one sweet (diabetes patient try the same with  sugar free ingredient).

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Channa Dhal - 1 handful
• Jaggery - 1/2 cup
• Cardmom Powder - 1 tsp
• Dry grapes / kismis - 1 handful (quantity can vary as per your taste)
• Cashewnuts - 5 to 6
• Ghee - 2 tbsp
• Poppy Seeds - 2 tsp
• Coconut - 1/2

Method:

Sweet Pongal/Chakra Pongal

1. Cook rice and channa dhal (kadale bele) for 4 whistles
2. Add 1 tsp ghee into a kadai, heat them fry cashewnuts and dry grapes, keep them aside
3. Add remaining ghee and heat them, put poppy seeds, cardmom powder, coconut and fry for sometime
4. Add the cooked rice and dhal and fry for some more time, so that all the ingredients get mixed.
5. Add jaggery in the end and leave it for sometime, let them get mixed well
6. Serve hot.

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Pongal - New Year

Every year Pongal is celebrated on 13th, 14th and 15th of January. It is also considered as a New Year for Tamilians (especially for harvesting group).

The people would take out the paddy crops and make it as rice.

13-Jan is celebrated as Bhoogi Pongal.

• In Andhra, people collect almost all waste materials from their entire area and burn all of them. They call that as "Bhoogimantalu".

14-Jan is celebrated as Surya Pongal.

• People get up early in the morning prepare different dishes. Draw Surya(sun) and Chandra(Moon) and keep all the dishes for naivediya for god including sugarcane in banana leaves.
• Andhrites and Kannadigas mix groundnut seeds, til, hurigadale(roasted gram), small pieces of chopra, small pieces of jaggery and share with their relatives and friends saying "Yelu Bella tindu ole matadu" means "eat til and jaggery and speak good things".

15-Jan is celebrated as Mathu Pongal.

• Non-vegetarian people will avoid eating non-veg on 13th and 14th will prepare different non-vegetarian dishes on this day.
• In the evening, farmers decorate their cows, buffaloes, oxen, bulls and make them to jump across the fire by thanking God to give them good crop. And praying for the same till the next year.

Andhrites and Kannadigas call this festival as Makara Sankranthi, while Tamilians call this festival as Pongal.

I thank Saras to post on Pongal.

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