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Home » Pongal Recipes » Kalkandu Pongal|How to make Kalkandu Pongal

Kalkandu Pongal|How to make Kalkandu Pongal

Jan 18, 2017 · Modified: Jan 1, 2021 by Priya_Srinivasan ·

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Kalkandu pongal, a rice based sweet made with rock candy. It is made especially during Pongal or Makar Sankaranti festival.

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Kalkandu pongal

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

  • Sesame seeds & Jaggery Mix/Ellu bella
  • Pulihora
  • Urad dal vada

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 ¼ 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.

Rock candy pongal

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

Kalkandu pongal, a rice based sweet made with rock candy. It is made especially on Pongal or Makar Sankaranti day.
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Course: Dessert, Festival
Cuisine: Asian, Indian, South-Indian
Keyword: Festival recipe, How to make pongal, How to make sweet pongal, Pongal recipe, rock candy sweet, Sweet pongal recipe, Traditional recipe
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
Servings: 4
Calories:

Equipment

  • Pressure cooker

Ingredients

  • ½ cup raw rice festive offerings are always done with raw rice
  • 2 tablespoon moong dal
  • 2 tablespoon 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 tablespoon ghee use vegan options, for vegan
  • 3 tablespoon broken cashewnuts
  • 1 tablespoon 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 tablespoon 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.

Disclaimer

I m not a Doctor or a Nutritionist The Nutrition information provided above comes from the plugin and is only an estimate.

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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

  • Broken wheat sweet pongal
  • Thinai sweet pongal
  • Sarkarai pongal

Do you like the recipe? PIN IT

Kalkandu pongal pin

More Sweet & Savory Recipes for Pongal Festival

  • Multigrain Flakes Pongal
    Multigrain Flakes Pongal | Khara Pongal with Multigrain
  • Couscous Ven Pongal
    Couscous Pongal | Couscous Savory Pongal
  • Thinai Sarkarai Pongal|Foxtail Millet Sweet Pongal
  • Varagu Venpongal | Savory Pongal with Millets

Reader Interactions

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  1. Pavani

    January 18, 2017 at 10:52 pm

    Kalakandu pongal has been on my to-make list for a very very long time. Will have to try it out some time soon.

    Reply
  2. Nalini's Kitchen

    January 18, 2017 at 11:52 pm

    One of my favorite,sweet pongal tastes divine when it is hot.I too like the pongal straight from the pan.

    Reply
  3. Rafeeda AR

    January 19, 2017 at 6:55 am

    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...

    Reply
  4. Srivalli

    January 19, 2017 at 9:38 am

    This is my altime favorite way to use the sugar candies other than popping into mouth that is..:)

    Reply
  5. vaishali sabnani

    January 20, 2017 at 11:04 am

    Awesome pongal..love that ghee floating Priya..we surely need it..lol.

    Reply
  6. Kalyani

    January 22, 2017 at 7:15 am

    I made it last year for Sankranti / Pongal and simply loved it 🙂 especially liked the "sun" Motif and ur elegant "Jade" neckpiece

    Reply
  7. Priya Suresh

    January 22, 2017 at 2:55 pm

    Give me that plate, feel like finishing rite now. Beautiful set up there Priya.

    Reply
  8. Srividhya

    January 23, 2017 at 4:14 pm

    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.

    Reply
  9. Sandhya Ramakrishnan

    January 24, 2017 at 3:56 am

    I love kalkandu pongal over anything else and this looks so tempting. Lovely set up!

    Reply
  10. Sandhiya

    January 24, 2017 at 9:42 pm

    My all time favorite. It's so tempting and the photos are awesome.

    Reply
  11. Smruti Ashar

    January 25, 2017 at 3:56 pm

    Such a wonderful pongal recipe!! Loved it!

    Reply
  12. Harini R

    January 30, 2017 at 3:36 am

    The setup is so traditional, Priya and apt for the pongal too

    Reply

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