Today is "Aadi Pooram". This is a festival that falls on the Aadi (Tamil month) and on the Pooram star. This day is considered as Goddess Andal's birthday. She is believed to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. Here is the pic of the goddess statue that I clicked in Sri Krishna Temple in Singapore.
Coming on to the food post, the dish is called "Akkaravadisal". This is a authentic dish prepared on Aadi Pooram and offered as a prasadh to the Goddess. This is similar to Sakkarai Pongal, but rice, jaggery and milk are the main ingredients. Here the rice is cooked in milk, tempered with cashewnuts and raisins sauted in ghee. I have always been skeptical in making this dish because these kinda sweet recipes are not my area 😁 and most importantly, I thought this is a complex task. My mom makes this awesomely and today I thought of giving it a try. It came out well 💪.
Ingredients:
Raw Rice 1 cup
Jaggery 1.5 cup
Moong Dal 2 tsp
Milk 4 cups
Ghee 1/4 cup
Edible Camphor a pinch
Cardamom 1
Cardamom, Raisins few
Method:
Saute raw rice and moong dal in ghee for a minute.
In a heavy bottom pan, add 2 and half cups of milk and 3/4 th cup of water. Add the sauted rice and moong dal. Cook on medium heat until the rice and dal gets cooked and turns soft. Then mash it thoroughly. It will take some time for the rice to be cooked this way. Alternatively, you can cook in the pressure cooker too to make the work simpler.
Heat 1/2 cup of water in a pan and add jaggery to it. When it comes to a boil, add cardamom and edible camphor. Mix well.
Next add the cooked rice (step 2), remaining milk and mix it well. Let it simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Switch off the flame.
Heat ghee in a pan. Add cashews and raisins. Fry them until golden brown and add it to the above.