KALKANDU BHATH (IYENGAR STYLE)

This is a very special, tasty, simple and mild sweet rice, slightly different from Iyengar special akkaravadisal and sakkarai pongal. It is made as an offering and also served in Iyengar marriages. A great offering indeed.

INGREDIENTS:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Big kalkandu (Sugar candy) - 1 1/2 cup (roughly crushed)
Saffron - 1 pinch
Cashews - 10
Kismis(dry grapes) - 10
Pachaikarpooram - very little
Cardamom - 3 (powdered)
Milk - 4 cups
Ghee - 6 tablespoons

METHOD:

Soak saffron in a tablespoon of hot milk.

Fry cashews and kismis in a spoon of ghee. Keep aside.

Wash rice. Drain the water completely. Pressure cook rice in milk for 4 whistles. While hot, mash the rice well. Add kalkandu to the mashed rice and mix well on stove. Its not necessary to powder the kalkandu. It automatically dissolves in a few minutes on heat. While mixing the texture becomes watery, do not panic, it will thicken when warm. 

Now add 1/2 of the ghee and stir for a while. Add powdered cardamom, saffron and pachaikarpooram. Add in the remaining ghee. Mix well. Garnish with ghee-fried cashews and kismis.

NOTE: The dish should be semi-solid and more milk can be added to get the desired consistency.