Sankranthi treats

Hope all of you had a wonderful Sankranthi/Pongal. I know I should have made this post yesterday but it was a tiring and long day, couldn’t get down to doing it.

We celebrate Sankranthi with two types of Pongal and Ellu, a dish made with White sesame seeds, roasted peanuts, fried gram, bits of coconut and jaggery. It also comes with sakkare acchu meaning sugar figures in various shapes, which add sweetness to the ellu. Looking at Indira’s acchulu, I was missing home and wished I could have some acchu. My cousin came to my rescue by telling me how to make them at home! I was surprised and was in total awe when I saw her acchu . I asked for the recipe and yay I made acchu at home too. My sis hand molded hers, turning them into leaves and cute blocks, but I was too skeptical about how mine would turn out if I did them by hand, so I played safe and bought the candy molds featuring sea shell shapes.

Sugar Sea Shells on the Ellu Shore

So this Sankranti was special with home made acchu and Ellu. I also made Sweet pongal and Khara Pongal (Spicy Pongal).

Ellu and Sakkare Acchu

To make the sugar figures :

This is the recipe my cousin gave me, I followed it to the T. Worked wonders, and I was all smiles at the end of it :)

You will need:

½ Cup Sugar
¼ Cup Water
¼ cup Milk
Food colour of your choice

Take sugar and water in a non-stick pot and bring to a boil on medium heat. The sugar should start to bubble, add half the milk and stir slowly. The mixture will start to froth. At this point remove from heat, strain into another bowl, this filters the impurities in the sugar. Back in India, as my mom recalled, this process should really ‘purify’ the mixture, back here in the US, its pure as ever already..hehe. I thought I would skip the milk step but my sis said it would make the end product softer, so I decided to stick to the recipe. Pour the mixture back into the pan, bring to a boil again and then add the milk again, Let if froth, strain and bring back to a boil. Remember to stir continuously all along. As you go, the mixture should be a thick and opaque.

To test if it’s the right consistency (my cousin’s tip again), lightly grease a small piece of parchment paper and drop a little of the mixture on the paper. If it solidifies immediately then the mix is ready to be pured into molds. I sprayed the hard candy mold with non-stick spray just to be safe, and poured the liquid into them. Before pouring into the molds, make sure the liquid is free of large bubbles, stir to get rid of any if present.You could stir in food colour of your choice, I used lemon yellow to make the sea shells look pretty. Tap slightly to ensure the liquid is set evenly and also to get rid of remaining air bubbles.

Let sit for 10 minutes. The sugar should have set well. Turn over and tap lightly to release the figures.

Pack it with ellu, and give it away to friends, this is sure to impress them!! :)

Sweet Pongal and Khara Pongal with Tamarind Gojju

Sweet Pongal

You will need:

½ Cup Rice
½ Cup Yellow Moong Dal
2 tbsp Grated coconut
½ tsp Cardamom powder
¼ Cup Powdered Jaggery
Cashews and Raisins
1 tsp Ghee
2 Cups Water
2 Cups Milk

Lightly roast the yellow moong dal in a pan, till its fragrant. Pressure cook rice and moong dal with water and milk . Meanwhile, dissolve jaggery in little water and bring to a boil. Add this to the cooked rice and moong dal. Add the grated coconut and cardamom powder. Bring to a simmering boil Fry cashews and raisins in ghee. Add this to the pongal and serve hot or cold.

Khara Pongal

You will need:

½ Cup Rice
½ Cup Yellow Moong Dal
3 tbsp Grated coconut
1 tsp Cumin seeds
6-8 whole Peppercorns
1 tsp Ghee
4 Cups Water
Salt to taste

Roast moong dal in a pan till fragrant. Pressure cook rice and moong dal. To this add grated coconut and salt. In a small pan, heat ghee. Add cumin seeds and peppercorns. Saute for a few seconds and add this to the pongal. Mix well, bring to a boil and serve with Tamarind gojju.

Tamarind Gojju-- (Pongal Gojju)

You will need:

Equal portions of Tamarind and Jaggery
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal
1 tsp Chana Dal (Kadlebele)
2 Green chillies slit
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Besan flour
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and when it begins to splutter, add the urad and chana dals. Add the green chillies and sauté for a minute. Keep aside.

In another pan, bring the tamarind juice/pulp and the jaggery to a simmering boil. Add water to mix them well. In a cup, blend Besan with water to make a smooth paste. Add this to the boiling liquid while stirring to make it thick. Now add the seasoning prepared earlier, bring to a boil. Season with salt and serve.

When I was a kid mom used to send me with the Ellu and Acchu to our neighbours, and my neighbours in turn would give us the Ellu they had made. It’s kinda like a barter system, only difference is you get the same item in return, but prepared with a variety of goodies in it. At the end of the day, I would have collected varieties of Ellu and Acchu from all the houses in our neighbourhood…those were the days!! :)

The first festival of the year has gone by, more to come!