India will celebrate Pongal from 15 January to 18 January this year. This is a 4-day harvest festival and is celebrated to be thankful for nature, the Surya, and Lord Indra for harvesting and crops. This is also the beginning of the Tamil Thai month. Chakkara is an authentic sweet dish served in Pongal to celebrate the festival. If you want to prepare this sweet dish at home this year, here’s how you can make it.
What Is The Pongal Special Dish Chakkara?
Popularly known as Sakkarai Pongal, Chakkara is a traditional dessert made in Indian households on the auspicious occasion of Pongal. It is quite similar to porridge and has a very creamy texture. Every bite of Chakkara melts in your mouth and tastes delectable. In the upcoming 4-days of Pongal, this sweet dish preparation will be cooked in most kitchens in South India. Do you want to make it this year too?
Also read: States Impose Strict Guidelines Ahead Of Mahar Sankranti, Ganga Sagar Mela And Pongal
Here’s How To Make Chakkara At Home?
Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice
- 1/2 cup moong dal
- 4 cups water
- 6 tbsp milk
- 6 tbsp ghee
- Some cashews and raisins
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- 2 cups jaggery
- 2 cloves
Also read: It Rains Bananas In This Tamil Nadu Village During Pongal & Here’s Why
Recipe:
The process to prepare Chakkara is pretty simple and won’t take much time.
- Start by dry roasting moong dal on a pan for a couple of minutes till you get the aroma.
- The next step is to rinse the roasted dal.
- Then take a pressure cooker and add the roasted moong dal, washed rice, and water.
- Let it cook for some time till you hear 7-8 whistles.
- Once it is well boiled and is looking very mushy and pulpy, mash the mixture.
- For the syrup, add jaggery and water to a bowl and let it boil till the jaggery melts.
- Strain the mixture well and add it to the mushy mixture of rice and moong dal.
- Now for flavours, add cardamom powder and cloves.
- After cooking for a bit, it will thicken up.
- Then add some milk accordingly and mix everything well.
- Meanwhile, fry some cashew nuts and raisins in ghee.
- For the last step, add the nuts to the mixture and give everything a nice stir.
- And your Chakkara is ready to serve.
Here’s a recipe for you to learn and prepare Chakkara at home this Pongal.
Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons