Chekkara Pongali

Happy New Year 2011.
Welcomed the New Year with a traditional south Indian sweet.
Rice and Moong Dal are cooked in jaggery syrup and garnished with raisins, cashews and almonds for this melt in the mouth dessert.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice

¼ cup moong dal

2 cups milk

1 – 1 ½ cup jaggery (adjust to taste)

2 tbsp ghee

Cashews, Almonds and Raisins for garnishing

Pinch of cardamom powder

Procedure:
Pressure cook rice and moong dal in two cups of milk and one cup of water.

Melt jaggery in a cup of water.

Add cooked rice and dal to the jaggery syrup and simmer, add 1 tbsp of ghee.

Shallow fry raisins, almonds and cashews in the remaining ghee and add it to the pongal.

Add cardamom powder.

Remove from flame and serve it warm.

Carrot Halwa

Carrot Halwa is one of the most popular North Indian desserts. Grated carrot is cooked in milk and sugar, and garnished with cashews and raisins to form this delectable dessert.

If you have a food processor or a vegetable chopper which can aid you in grating the carrot, making this dessert is a breeze. Make sure the grated carrot is tightly packed in the cup while measuring.

Serves: 4 – 6
Cooking Time: 25 – 30 minutes

Ingredients:
3 cups grated carrot
1 ½ cup half and half milk
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp butter
10 cashew nuts
2 tbsp raisins
2 tsp ghee
Pinch of cardamom powder

Procedure:
Heat the pan, add grated carrot, sauté on medium heat for 3 minutes.

Add butter to the pan, continue to sauté till carrot has no more raw smell.

Add half and half milk and sugar and continue to cook on medium flame until the milk evaporates. Make sure to stir and not let it burn.

In a separate pan heat ghee, fry cashew nuts on a low to medium flame until they turn into a nice golden color. Add them to halwa.

Heat ghee again and fry raisins till they become plump and add them to halwa.

Add cardamom powder.

This mouth watering dessert is sure to please your family and friends!