Panakarkandu Pongal by Chirama's Cooking
Sweet Pongal is traditionally prepared using jaggery as a sweetener. In this recipe, I have replaced jaggery with low glycemic natural sweetener Vayal Foods Palm Candy (Panakarkandu).
Ingredients
- Ghee - 3 tbsps
- Rice - 1/2 cup
- Moong dal - 1/4 cup
- Vayal Foods Palm candy (Panakarkandu) - 3/4 - 1 cup
- Cardamom powder - 1/2 tbsp
- Water - 3 cups
- Cashews - 10-12
- Raisins - 10-12
Method
- Soak Rice and Moong dal for 15 minutes.
- In a Pressure Cooker, add 2 tbsps of ghee and roast the rice and dal for few minutes.
- Add 2 1/2 cups of water and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.
- Meanwhile, add 3/4 cup to 1 cup of Palm Candy to a pan. Add 1/2 cup of water and let it boil.
- Once the Palm Candy gets dissolved in water, filter it and add to the cooked rice.
- Mix it well and let it cook for 5 minutes. Mash it well with the masher.
- Fry the cashews and raisins in a tbsp of ghee and add it to the rice.
- Add 1/2 tbsp of Cardamom powder and mix everything together.
- Serve it hot with the drizzle of ghee.
Benefits:
- The pressure cooking process can also be done in Instant Pot with Manual mode for 4 minutes.
- Palm Candy is low in glycemic index so its good for people with diabetics and pcos.
- Palm Candy is rich in nutrients and it is used to treat cold and cough which makes a great replacement for refined sugar.
