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It's a little story which I will not be able to write it down here as it will take a lot of space!, Godai or Andal as she is called is one of the 12 Alvars, She Devoted her whole life in trying to reach God! as a small girl and in the end she marries him that's how she at last reaches his abode If you click on to the link on her name you can read the story of her, She Prays to Lord Vishnu in the month of Maargazhi, as it is the coldest month and her penance is nothing concerned to religious rites but she says as the month is so cold getting up so early in the morning and following these simple things in her life she tries to please the Lord It is kind of Tapas (Penance) in her own way and yearns for the everlasting Service to the Lord , she has a written a Poem of 30 Stanzas which is called Thirupaavai, also called Paasurams in Tamil in praise of Lord vishnu and it is a part of the Divya Prabandham, a work of the Alvars.
Each song is sung each day during this month, and unmarried girls try to follow the little things she describes as kind of penance to the Lord to get Good Husbands!!, Vishnavas sing these songs to bring Peace, Prosperity and Divine Grace towards reaching Moksha (Salvation).
In the 27th stanza, she comes out of her Penance and Dresses up nicely and makes this sweet Porridge offering to the Lord, she even describes how this sweet should be...
She says '' Today is the day she will come out of her Vratham and adornes herself with beautiful jewels and clothes and will make Ksheeranam with milk and Jaggery and lots of ghee, wherein the ghee will flow down to her elbow when offering it to the Lord'', So that is how this Shakkarai Pongal should be made with lots of Ghee!!.
Well, as the days went by and People became health consicous, nobody wants to make Pongal that way!, but still we do get Sweet Pongal as Prasadam in temples the way she describes :)).
So here is my version of Sakkarai Pongal....
SAKKARAI PONGAL (SWEET PONGAL)
INGREDIENTS:
1 to 1 and 1/2 of Jaggery (use Paaku Jaggery / Unde Bella)
3/4th Cup of Raw Rice
1/4 Cup of Green Gram /Hesaru Bele / Paitham Paruppu / Moong dal
1 tsp of Cardamom powder
A Pinch of Pacchai Karpooram (Edible Camphor)
1 and 1/2 Cup Milk
1 and 1/2 Cups of Water + 1/4 cup Water
1/4 tsp of Nutmeg
2 tbsp of Cashewnuts
2 tbsp of Kishmish/Raisins/Dried Grapes
1/2 Cup of Pure Ghee / Clarified Butter
METHOD:
First of all in a wok add a tsp of Ghee and fry Green Gram into Golden colour, which gives a nice aroma around the Kitchen.
Then In a thick bottomed vessel take the washed rice and Moong dal with 1 and 1/2 cup of Milk and 1 cup of Water and either cook it directly on the stove if you are using a thick bottomed vessel (Vangala Paanai) or Mud Pot, I made this in a pressure cooker, Cook dal and Rice with milk and water close a lid to the vessel and pressure cook up to 3 whistles, ( I close a lid to the vessel as we know that when milk boils it froths up and spills out so it is better to close it with a lid ).
Meanwhile take Jaggery and 1/4 cup of water (use Jaggery according to your tastebuds) and allow it to completely dissolve it in the water, then leave it for 2 minutes allowing the impurities to settle down, filter the Jaggery as it usually has impurities, take the filtered Jaggery in a vessel and start to boil it, until it reaches a ball consistency you can test this by dropping a tiny bit into a cup of water, where you can see that it doesn't spread out into the water but you can see it well and where you can bring it into a ball (next time I will try to take a photo tutorial of this).
It is important that you do this even after the cooker cools because when it reaches ball consistency it becomes hard and you have a add a little bit of water to keep in this consistency until your cooker cools, It's just the timing no need to panic, Once the whistle is gone, take the cooker out from the stove and keep it on a table top on a stand (as it will be very hot!), otherwise the heat from the stove keeps the cooker still warm for a bit longer.
Notes: It is better to use Round Jaggery (Unde Bella), Check Valli's Blog for Jaggery Varities from this Recipe, she describes each one of them with a lovely click too!!
Of course, who doesn't know Ghasa-ghasa paayasam, and why am I posting this recipe now!!, I do make this a lot and I have never been able to take photos of them anytime, Like my Bisibele Bath!!, I keep forgetting almost all the time, Today my kids were back with their dad from their Bank Holiday Monday Vacation, and I was stuck with my daughter at home, thinking I will make her sit and study as her exams start from coming tuesday and is upto June end!!, I am completely gone bonkers , and keep screaming and shouting at her most of the time, she has started to hate me I think.
She is a kind of person who takes everything very calmly, sometimes which makes me wonder why is she like this, I remember my Dad used to say when she was a little baby around 2-3 months old , she used to just stare at the ceiling or somewhere God knows where and was very quite, smiling and very sweet baby, He always used to tell me when Ramakrishna Paramahamsa went he must have left her and gone !!, I used to laugh and he used to tell me I am really serious, why does she stare like that completely blank she sees through you, I wonder and want to know what she might be thinking!!, well, we never knew what she was thinking and still I do wonder what goes on in her mind.
I never remember her throwing tantrums or talking with a childish or should I say baby talk with some letters being disappearing or give a stress or streched or sing along way when they talk which Aishu never did !!, when she started speaking at the age of 10-11 months she used to speak very fluently and we were quite surprised, she always used to be a very quite child, always loved to read books which she still does. Yesterday when we went to the centre she said I have got a wishlist of books and want to buy them I said let's see if we can get some here in the mall, we could buy only one book ''20 thousand leagues under the sea'', the other books she couldn't find, ''Catcher in the rye'' was another one, which she told me that they wouldn't sell in the shops as it is banned. she wants me to read that book, I still haven't had the chance, another book I have been suggested by her is ''To kill a Mocking bird'', I have to soon read these books for her!!!. she has asked me this time when she goes to India she wants to buy Mahabharata and Ramayana, she is now reading War and peace. God!!, she is a serious reader.
She has never been a trouble to me in any ways, she doesn't gets tensed up for her exams and tells me be cool ma, don't worry I will do alright, and takes everything very calmly, I get scared and she tells me to take a breath of fresh air, and second girl says breath in breath out, mom and don't worry everything will go well, but, that one is not at all like my eldest, she gets tensed up but she is like a girl with time management skills, she keeps alarm with anything and everything that she has to finish !!.
Oh! now I have left everything in HIS hands and pray she does well in her exams and her ambitions gets fulfilled. Best of luck to her future and God bless her always....
Coming back to the recipe, I saw this event hosted by Priya of easy n tasty recipes who started the CWS event and this is her month of seeds and it was Cardamom, I thought two in one, kids would enjoy and kheer delight and I could as well participate in the event. so....here is my recipe, this is H's favourite sweet and I keep making it often.
KHUS-KHUS KHEER/ GHASA-GHASA PAAYASAM/ WHITE POPPY SEEDS SWEET DRINK
