Kalkandu pongal, a rice based sweet made with rock candy. It is made especially during Pongal or Makar Sankaranti festival.
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The Festival
Pongal is the harvest festival celebrated in Tamilnadu. The 4-day festival, celebrated by South-Indians, all over the globe, usually falls on January 14, almost every year. Pongal also marks the solar equinox, beginning of summer days, when the sun travels northward, marking the beginning of summer months.
The Food
With every festival , there is certain kind of food involved. With Pongal being the harvest festival, the food is made with freshly harvested crop and vegetables. Cooking on Pongal day involves lot of locally grown, country vegetables. This also promotes local food and eating seasonal food, which nourishes our body for the season.
Other Pongal Dishes
How to make Kalkandu Pongal
Like all other pongal recipes, this kalkandu pongal is made with rice and moong dal. I have added some chana dal along with this. Wash and drain the ingredients twice or thrice with water.
Take the rice and dal in a pressure cooker, add milk and water mixed together and cook until soft, 4-5 whistles. Cooking in milk adds more flavor to pongal recipes. But if you are vegan, skip milk and cook in water or you can add 1/4 cup of coconut or almond milk for the richness.
While the rice and dal is cooking, take rock candy and cardamom in a mixer and pulse them together to powder. Once the rice-dal cooker pressure releases, add this rock candy mix to it, and let it cook until all the liquid gets absorbed. Finally add some ghee roasted cashewnuts and raisins to the pongal. Serve it warm.
Pongal is ususally made with rice and dal, as it celebrates harvest festival. But, if you want to make it with an alternate grain other than rice, you can use millets or barley even quinoa for that matter.
Kalkandu Pongal | Rock Candy Sweet pongal
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw rice festive offerings are always done with raw rice
- 2 tbsp moong dal
- 2 tbsp chana dal
- 1 cup milk use plant-based milk, for vegan option
- 1.5 cups water
- ½ cup rock sugar
- 4 nos cardamom
- 1 no clove
- 2 tbsp ghee use vegan options, for vegan
- 3 tbsp broken cashewnuts
- 1 tbsp raisins
Instructions
- Take rice and dal together and wash it well withrunning water. I know they normally dry roast the rice, but since these days,it goes through various stages of processing, i didn't want to take risk, so washed the rice, instead of dry roasting
- Take the washed rice and dal in a pressure pan, add 1 cup of milk and 1.5 cups of water and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles. I didn't cook directly in the pressure cooker, this will cause the liquid to squirt out thru the whistle, so place the rice and dal in a separate vessel and place it in the pressure cooker.
- While the rice is cooking, take rock sugar along with cardamom pods and cloves in a mixie and powder it well.
- Let the pressure release on its own. Heat a pan,add the cooked rice and dal to it and add the powdered sugar candy and mixwell. The mixture will release water, add 2 tbsp of ghee to it and mix well.Let it cook until the sugar is absorbed well and the mixture thickens
- Be careful and be near the stove, stir frequently. After 10-12 minutes, take it off the stove.
- Roast the cashewnuts and raisin in ghee and add it to the pongal. Serve warm.
Serve this delicious kalkandu pongal warm. This rock candy pongal can also be made as a sweet for get togethers and parties.
If making as dessert for get-togethers and parties, you can make it ahead and warm it just before serving. This makes it a great make-ahead dessert.
If you have tried this recipe and like it, give it a star rating or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #icampinmmykitchen and tagging me @priyasrinivasan.
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Other Sweet Pongal recipes
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Kalakandu pongal has been on my to-make list for a very very long time. Will have to try it out some time soon.
One of my favorite,sweet pongal tastes divine when it is hot.I too like the pongal straight from the pan.
Pongal sounds just similar to the kichari that we make! Looks so delicious… I love meals like this for breakfast… easy to make and filling too…
This is my altime favorite way to use the sugar candies other than popping into mouth that is..:)
Awesome pongal..love that ghee floating Priya..we surely need it..lol.
I made it last year for Sankranti / Pongal and simply loved it 🙂 especially liked the "sun" Motif and ur elegant "Jade" neckpiece
Give me that plate, feel like finishing rite now. Beautiful set up there Priya.
same here.. this is in my todo list too. But couldn't get to it this year again.Love this yummy dish. That suryan hanging and the set up is awesome.
I love kalkandu pongal over anything else and this looks so tempting. Lovely set up!
My all time favorite. It's so tempting and the photos are awesome.
Such a wonderful pongal recipe!! Loved it!
The setup is so traditional, Priya and apt for the pongal too