Traditional Sweet Pongal

1. Melt the ghee in a large skillet/frying pan over medium heat; fry the cashews and raisins in the melted ghee until the cashews are brown and the raisins begin to plump, about 5 minutes. Remove the cashews and raisins from the skillet and set aside.
2. Fry the coconut separately in a little ghee until toasty and brown and set aside.
3. Add the lentils to the skillet and fry in the ghee until fragrant; stir the rice, milk, jaggery, and sugar into the lentils.
4. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the rice is tender, adding water as needed to keep moist, about 30 minutes.
5. Mix the cashews, raisins, cardamom powder into the mixture to serve.
6. You can add the edible camphor to the pongal while adding cardamom powder to enhance the taste. Only a pinch of camphor should be added and not more than that otherwise the campor smell overpowers the pongal and spoils the taste.
7. It you want your pongal to be mushy add more water while cooking the rice and mash it with ladle.
8. Adding grated coconut enhances the taste of the Pongal.

For more Indian festive recipes visit festive celebrations page.