Happy Sankranti - Chakkara Pongal
Dr. Mom's Healthy Tips:
Diet and neurotransmitters are known to improve sleep and mood.
A glass of warm milk has a higher tryptophan content than any other protein. High-carbohydrate and low protein meals increase our tryptophan levels. The insulin that is released from the high-carboydrate meal deposits amino acids into muscle, but does not affect the amount of tryptophan in our body available for the brain. The more tryptophan in the brain, the more seratonin produced (the feel-good chemical). No wonder drinking a warm cup of milk before bed helps us fall asleep!
Makara Sankranti is on the first day of the sun's transit into Capricorn (or Makara) during the month of the winter solstice. This day is dedicated to the Sun god and is celebrated to show gratitude to nature for the natural resources we have. Since I come from a farming family, this festival is very special to me as it connects me to nature and my grandparents.
When I was young, I always spent the Sankranti holidays with my grandparents in their village. Preparations for the festival started days in advance and I remember my grandmother would always fuss about the amount of work to be done, be it cleaning, doing Rangoli, or making the tranditional sweet, Ariselu (sweet rice flour cakes made with ghee). Most of the cooking for the festival was done together with neighbors, whom we addressed as aunts and uncles. There was lots of laughter and competition and the celebrations went on for days.
The first day is Boghi, which signifies the discarding of old things and new beginnings with fire. In the village, everyone would wake up before day break every day (as a child, I was annoyed that I had to wake up early during my vacation). However, during this festival, I was the first one to wake up so that I could make gobemmalu: balls of cow dung decorated with flowers, placed on the Rangoli, and celebrated with singing and dancing. It sounds funny now that I think about it, I was competing to be the first one up for cow dung. On this day, after prayer, my grandfather would bless me with special fruits called bhogi pallu and coins on my head to ward off negative forces.
Chakkara Pongal
Total Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1/2 cup moong dal
1/4 cup grated coconut
1/4 cup ghee
1-1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cup water
handful of cashews
handful of dried fruit of choice (i prefer raisins or dried cranberries)
cardamom powder
small piece of camphor (optional)
Directions:
Put your Instant Pot on "Saute" mode and dry roast moong dal for 1-2 minutes, until aromatic. Add rice and stir for another 1-2 minutes.
Pour water and milk into Instant Pot and cover. Change the cooking setting to "Rice" mode (with steam vent closed). After cooking is complete, turn the steam vent to allow a natural release of pressure.
Place a sauce pan on stove over medium heat and add ghee, reserving 1 tablespoon for later. Add cashews and dried fruit to pan and fry until golden brown. Transfer mixture to a bowl and set aside.
Return the sauce pan to the stove and add sugar and cooked rice mixture. Stir over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until the sugar completely dissolves into the rice mixture.
Add cashew-fruit mixture, cardamom powder, coconut, and remaining ghee to rice mixture and continue to stir for 2 minutes.
Turn off stove and serve chakkara pongal hot or cold. Enjoy!