Thiruvadhirai Kali

You’ll need:


Raw rice – 1 cup

Yellow moong dal – ¼ cup

Jaggery (molasses) – 1 ½ cup

Freshly grated coconut – ½ cup

Cashew nuts – 2 tbsp

Raisins – 1 tbsp

Ghee – 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder – 2 tsp

Water – 4 cups

Method:


Dry roast rice and yellow moong dal separately till a nice aroma rises and they both change color to a lighter shade of brown. Grind them coarsely to a rava consistency. Heat a little water in a vessel and add the jaggery to it. Stir till they completely dissolve and pass it thru a metal strainer to filter any dust or find sand. Keep the strained jaggery syrup separately.

In a kadai heat 3 tsp of ghee. Add the cashew and raisins and sauté till they become golden in color. Add the grated coconut and sauté till changes color and a nice aroma arises. Keep it separately.

In a vessel heat 4 cups of water. Add the coarsely ground rice and moong dal and mix to avoid lumps. Close the vessel with a lid and cook over medium flame till the water is absorbed and mixture becomes soft. This should take about 10 – 15 minutes.

Add the jaggery syrup, cardamom powder, roasted cashewnuts, raisins, coconut and the remaining ghee and mix well. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes over high flame or till the syrup is also absorbed into the cooked rice mixture.


This was the break fast we all had on New year. I was quite skeptical whether my children would take a  liking to it. Bu they did. Infct they loved it very much. Arjun remarked that it tasted like chakkarai pongal. As it is a sweet dish I did’nt have to cajole them to try.


What a healthy dish as we get all the nutrients from it. Carb from the rice, protein from the dal, iron from the jaggery, fat from the ghee. What a healthy lifestyle people of those led. I hope we don’t forget our tradition but pass it on to our next generation and enable them to live a healthy life.


This is off to Kids’s Delight – Wholesome breakfast. hoted by Srivalli.