Black Rice Pongal

 

I made this black rice pongal or kavuni rice sweet rice to try variations to an ordinary pineal rice.  I love the texture of gummines and stickiness of the pongal. Love the beautiful purple hue of the pongal and trust me black rice indeed made an ideal dessert. Soaking the rice is very important to make the cooking process quick and easy. I use dry ginger powder instead of pachai karpooram but,  you may use it instead. 

It's thick, fragrant and fulfilling dessert to dish out during festival season for something out of ordinary to impress your family and friends. I served this delicious black rice pongal as neiveidhyam or an offering to deities. Black rice can be made as payasam  as well and including black rice in daily diets is extremely healthy. Do try make this black rice pongal at home and enjoy. 

Ingredients 

3/4 cups black glutinous rice

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut 

10-12 cashews, broken 

6-8 almonds, chopped

3 cardamom pods, crushed

4 tbsp ghee

4 cups water

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp dry ginger powder

For Jaggery Syrup

3/4 cup jaggery powder

3/4 cup water

3 cardamom pods

Methods

Wash and soak the black rice overnight.

In a pan, add all the ingredients listed under For Jaggery Syrup . Cook till the jaggery dissolve. Remove from heat and strain to discard impurities. Keep it aside.

Add the black rice and water in a pressure cooker and cook over medium heat for 5 whistles.

Add the grated coconut,dry ginger powder and prepared jaggery syrup to the cooked rice and stir.

Heat ghee in a pan and fry the cashews and almonds till golden. 

Add the ghee and cashews to the rice.  mixture and stir. Cook for another 3-4 minutes and off the heat. 

Transfer to serving plate and enjoy.