Saamai Arisi Sakkarai Pongal - Samo Sweet Pongal

பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்
Happy Pongal and Makar Sankranti

More so than Deepavali, Pongal at least in my opinion is special in the Kongu areas. Most Kongu folks being were farmers and Pongal being the harvest festival is of course going to be the more important one. During Deepvalai I feel a bit sad on the kids' behalf for them missing out on the festivities but I try not to miss it too much, Pongal is when I feel nostalgic for the good old days and of who can forget the fresh sugar cane.

Of all the new grains I discovered during last year's Grain of the Week experiment Saamai is one of my favorites. My first introduction was through its Gujarati name Samo and had tasted some curd samo from a Gujarati colleague's lunch box. I discovered that it is readily available in the Indian stores here in the US and it has become a staple. It is great replacement for rice and makes great curd rice and other flavored rice dishes.

So for Pongal this year I had decided Saamai is going to be the star in the sweet pongal. It did not disappoint - Tasty it was.

Get the ingredients for the Pongal ready.
Add the dal and millet along with the required amount of water and milk and pressure cook till the rice and lentils are mushy (1-2 whistles).
Add milk if the cooked millet - dal mixture is too thick and mix it in. Add the sugar, cardamom powder and ghee. Mix so the sugar is well incorporated.
Roast the dried nuts and fruit and add to the rice mixture.

Saamai Sakkarai Pongal
Preparation Time:15 minutes
Cooking Time:20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 cup Saamai Arisi (Little Millet)
2. 1 cup moong dal (paasi paruppu) slightly roasted
3. 1 cup Palm Sugar
4. 1/4 cup broken cashews
5. 1/4 cup golden raisins and 4-5 dates
6. 1 tsp powdered cardamom powder
7. 3-4 tsp ghee
8. 2 cups of milk (skip for vegan version)

Method

1. In a pressure cooker add the saamai and the moong dal after it is washed well along with enough water. I added 5 cups of water and 1 cup of milk. Pressure cook till is soft and mushy. Set aside.
2. In a small sauce pan heat a tsp of ghee and roast the cashews till they are golden, add the raisins and dates and saute them for a few minutes.
3. Keep the fire in medium low, and if the cooked rice and dal is thick add the other one cup of milk, mix them all together.
4. Add the sugar, cardamom powder and ghee and mix till the sugar is well incorporated.
5. Add in the roasted nuts and dried fruit, mix and turn off the heat.
Serve warm.

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Hazelnut Burfi

Festival season is a big deal in India. Living outside the country it is hard to get into the spirit of the season without the atmosphere which make these festivals so special. Of course there is one other important component that is essential to any celebration! Yes you guessed it - is the foods that go with it. I am neither in the the country nor able to provide the atmosphere but I am able to do something about the festive foods that get prepared.

So that is where this Hazelnut Burfi comes. The equivalent word for burfi might be fudge in the English language but fudge is more moist and chewy while a burfi is crumbly and melt in the mouth soft usually. Again there are no hard and fast rules everything works for a burfi. Burfi can be made with nuts, any kind of flour or coconut. Why hazelnuts and not almonds which are usually perfect for this?

The first time I got introduced to hazelnuts was through Nutella. The more I read about Nutella the more I wanted to stop buying it and make my own version at home. The first step is to buy the hazelnuts which I did easily enough. Once that happened they lay in the fridge waiting for an auspicious day which happened now just in time for Saraswathi Poojai celebrations, not as nut butter but as burfi.

Slightly roasted Hazelnuts and sugar required.
Roast and powder the hazelnuts while you get the sugar syrup ready.
Let the sugar reach one string consistency and mix the powdered nuts into the syrup.
Keep a small cup of water to do the sugar test. Sugar does not dissolve in the water when it has reached the correct consistency or does not flow when put in the plate.
Pour the mixture into a prepared plate and cut to desired shapes.

I have tried making Almond Burfi the hard way not listening to the suggestion given by a friend who gave the recipe. This time I followed her method and the texture has made me happy.

Initially I thought I'd add a bit of cardamom but hazelnut has this delicious scent so another flavor component like cardamom is not required. If you like it go ahead and add it.

Hazelnut Burfi
Preparation Time:15 minutes
Cooking Time:25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 cups hazelnuts
2. 2 cups raw sugar
3. 1/4 cup of water
4. 2 tbsp ghee (optional)
5. a small lime or few drops of lemon juice

Method

1. Take a wide mouthed heavy bottomed pan, add the sugar and enough water to just cover the sugar.
2. Let it come to a boil till it reaches one string consistency. Took me about 20 minutes.(See Note)
3. Tip:When boiling sugar as it sticks to the sides squeeze a few drops of lime juice or lemon juice on the sides to avoid crystallization of sugar.
4. As the sugar is boiling get the nuts ready. Lightly toast the nuts and cool. Blend to a smooth powder in the blender with short pulses. Do not over process, the nuts will get sticky which is good for nut butter but not for burfi.
5. Grease a plate with sides about 2 inches (a cake tin will work in a pinch) with ghee and keep ready.
6. Once the sugar reaches the string consistency, lower the heat and add the powdered nuts to the mixture and quickly mix into the sugar syrup. Add the ghee now and this process should take less than 4 minutes. (See Note if your sugar syrup did not reach sugar consistency).
7. Transfer to the greased pan and smooth the top.
8. Let it cool a bit. Now make marks for the required shapes. Cool completely and transfer them to an airtight container.

Note:

As the sugar syrup is getting cooked keep a small bowl of water. Add a few drops of the sugar syrup to the water. If the sugar syrup dissolves in the water it is not ready.

Once the sugar syrup dropped in the water retains its shape. It is ready.

If you added the powdered nuts to the sugar syrup before it reached the string consistency, cook a bit longer till the mixture comes together without sticking to the sides.

Kozhukattai (Sweet and Spicy steamed Rice Dumplings)

Though festivals and religion go hand in hand IMHO the former brings people together while the latter pulls people apart. If people who regularly visit the temple or fast on certain days of the week or carry out rituals even in a foreign land are considered religious then I certainly do not fall into that category.

sweet filling

Don't get me wrong I am neither agnostic nor an atheist. I certainly do believe in a higher power. We take the kids to what could be called Sunday school for learning culture an offshoot of which is also learning religion and performing rituals.

I try to remember the one important tenet of Hindu religion. To be a good Hindu one need not visit a temple or perform rituals rather doing one's duty to the best of one's ability is itself considered prayer. There is God within each person and seeing God in everyone around us is worth many visits to the temple no?.

I am also of the belief that symbolism and rituals should have their place. Celebrating festivals and partaking in rituals besides bringing happiness and satisfaction also brings people together. Foods associated with festivals have a special place all their own. It often reminds me of good times had during childhood and also kindles a desire to recreate a small bit of that happiness for my kids. I don't always succeed but sometimes I do.



To tell you the truth all those years I lived my mom would have made kozhukattai perhaps less than a handful of times. I remember eating kozhukattai as with everything else at my grandparent's place and those tasty ones shared by friends.

This year my mom armed with recipes from her friend was determined to make kozhukattais both the sweet and spicy kind. DD2 just couldn't stop saying kozhukattai till she finally got a chance to see them being made and tasting them.

I had this notion that they were hard to make as the rice flour tends to become stick and hard very easily. None of my fears came to pass. The process was very simple and other than a few mishaps shaping them the kozhukattais for the most part turned out just fine.

We made the filling for the sweet ones with coconut and jaggery. The spicy one was made with urad dal (split white lentil) and the filling threatened to disappear even before the kozhukattais were made. I am hooked I am bet they will be made very often. I am sure they would be great in a usli like preparation with string beans.

Kozhukattai
Ingredients
1. 2 cups rice flour
2. 3 cups of water
3. 1 tsp of salt
4. 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
5. 1-2 tbsp all purpose flour

Spicy Filling
1. 1 cup split or whole urad dal
2. 8 green chilies
3. salt, asfoetida and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1. Roast the urad dal for a few minutes, don't let the dal change color. Let soak, drain and blend coarsely with the rest of the ingredients.

Sweet Filling
1. 1 cup of grated coconut
2. 1 cup of jaggery
3. 1 cardamom powdered
4. 2-3 tsp of ghee

1. Blend the coconut to slightly finer pieces. Powder the jaggery and mix it with the coconut.
2. Heat ghee in a pan and add the coconut jaggery mixture and saute for a minute. Add the powdered cardamom. Set aside

Method
1. Heat the water, add salt and oil and let it come to a boil. Turn off the heat.
2. Add flour a little at a time and mix it without any lumps. Cover with a damp cloth.
3. As quickly as possible the kozhukkatis have to be made without the flour gets too hard.
4. Make small round balls, flatten them in the palm of your hand or place them under a clear plastic paper and use a heavy vessel to flatten.
5. Place about a tbsp of filling and fold over. Alternatively make a depression in the dough and place the filling and pinch the sides so the flour covers the filling.
6. Place them in a steamer and steam for 6 minutes. I used the idli plates for steaming.