Chekkara Pongali

Ingredients
Sugar - 1 Kg
Rice - 1/2 Kg
Plain Moong Dal - 300 gms
Ghee - 200 gms
Cashewnuts - 50 gms
Kismiss - 50 gms
Elaichi (Cardomom) -10 gms

Procedure
In a shallow frying pan heat some ghee and fry the moong dal for around 5 min. Wash rice and in a rice maker (Cooker) cook rice and moong dal together (For one glass of this mix, add around 1 1/2 glass of water). Remove from flame when the Rice is cooked (Usually after around 4 whistles if you are using Cooker).

In a frying pan, add the ghee and heat it. Now fry the Cashewnuts and Kismiss and put aside. Switch off the flame. In a bowl, take the sugar and a glass of water and heat to prepare Sugar Syrup. The syrup should be single thread (When you dip a spoon in the syrup and hold it above it should drop as a single thread). Add the cooked rice to it and also add ghee, Cashewnuts, Kismiss, Elaichi Powder and mix well. With this your Chekkera Pongali is ready.

Author's Note
This is one of the most important sweet dish for all the festivities in Andhra Pradesh. Most importantly, this is distributed as Prasaddam in Tirupati. A simple dish to prepare yet very tasty.