Akkaara Adisal - நெய் பெய்து முழங்கை வழிவார!

    
Happy Pongal everyone! With hearty wishes for this year to be as bountiful and blessed as the last one, atleast on the food front, else, I might as well shut-down this blog!

First things first - for those of you who fail to get the title of the post, and I am sure that there is a sizeable population : worry not (or rather, worry more). Akkaara Adisal is a special dish akin to to the famous Sarkkarai Pongal, except that it is a lot richer, fattier and hence tastier than the latter. 'How much fattier?' is of course a very expected question, given the present state of dieting for some of us, but are you ready for the answer? If we were to pay heed to the words of Aandaal, the only lady Aazhwar (remember the Bhakthi movement?), I am confident that most of us would not even risk a glance at this delicacy. She says, in the 27th verse of her famed Thiruppaavai "பாற் சோறு மூட நெய் பெய்து முழங்கை வழிவார கூடி இருந்து குளிர்ந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்" (We will enjoy this delicacy, of rice cooked in milk and covered with sufficient ghee that when eating, it drips down along our hands right to the elbows.). And that is no translation error! This is the way it is supposed to be cooked. This is the way it is prepared, to this day, at the temple of Thirumaaliruncholai (Azhagar kovil), where Raamanujar is said to have offered a 100 pots of Akkaara Adisal and a 100 pots of butter on behalf of Aandaal. One mouthful of that Akkaara Adisal, and for a few seconds you might as well be in Vaikunda.

For the brave souls who are still interested, Akkaara Adisal literally translates to rice cooked to a near-mash consistency (Adisal) with sugar (Akkaarai). It is cooked with great care and devotion at Sri Vaishnava households on several festive occasions throughout the year, but it is especially prepared on Koodaaravalli, the 27th day of Margazhi, and offered to Aandaal and the Lord, as a mark of completion of the month long Paavai Nonbu (a vow undertaken by devotees). So when Koodaaravalli happened a few days ago, I decided to try my hand at preparing this delicacy. I did make some sacrifices from the time and calories perspective, but still, this is no mean feat. It requires patience, strength, determination to see the end of it, and an ability to focus unflinchingly on the gently boiling rice!

AKKAARA ADISAL (Serves 4)
Set-up Time : -

Experiment Run-Time : 45-60 Minutes 

The Shopping List

          Raw Rice : 3/4 cup
          Moong Dal : 1/4 cup
          Powdered Jaggery : 1.5 cups
          Saffron : 1 pinch
          Whole Milk : 6 cups
          Ghee : 1/2 cup and more if you are willing to!
          Nuts (Cashews, Almonds, Pistachios) : 1/4 cup
          Raising :1/4 cup (I didn't use, but recommended)
          Cardamom Powder : 1 tsp
          Edible Camphor : a pinch (again, I didn't have this)

Methodology

1. Take a clean, and I mean a CLEAN frying pan and heat it on a medium flame. Place the rice and moong dal into the pan and roast them slowly until the rice starts to white out and the moong dal is ever-so-lightly browned.

2. Transfer the rice and dal to a wide, deep vessel and pour in 4 cups of milk. Heat the vessel carefully and bring the milk to a boil. Your work starts now. Since milk burns quickly, you need to stir the contents continuously while the rice and dal continue to cook on a low flame.

3. Once the rice, and more importantly, the dal have been cooked thoroughly and have been reduced to a near mash (Go ahead, take out a grain of rice/dal and press it between your thumb and index finger- it should give no resistance whatsoever), stop heating it any further, add the saffron, and keep it aside.

4. In a pan, melt the jaggery with half a cup of water and filter the syrup to remove any sediments that maybe present.Heat the filtered syrup until it it begins to boil. Allow it to boil for like ten seconds and remove it from the heat.

5. Now place the cooked rice/dal mixture on the stove and heat it up once again. Pour in the jaggery syrup and start to stir with vigor (remember bicep curls?). As the mixture thickens, add milk, little at a time, until you have exhausted the remaining two cups. 

6. Just before removing the vessel from the stove, pour in the generous amount of ghee suggested and give a quick stir. You should right now be looking at a glistening mass of brown pudding.

7. Fry up the nuts and raisins in a tablespoon of ghee and add it to the Akkaara Adisal along with the edible camphor and cardamom powder. Once again, give a good stir to evenly distribute the nuts and raisins. The artery-choker is now ready for some action.

     
Traditionally, Akkaara Adisal is served hot on a banana leaf, after offering it to the Lord, and one is supposed to eat it off their hands. No dilly-dallying with spoons and napkins please. Once again, tradition demands that we keep our minds at peace while preparing any food, but the elders emphasize it all the more in the case of the Akkaara Adisal. Hence, no panicking, no shouting for help and no dancing around to dubstep, should be made the kitchen norms for the day. (The importance of one's mental state during food preparation is still researched upon by some nutritionists, psychologists and other related experts). With a final word of advice, I will allow you to go and try this out in your kitchens this Sankraanthi : Hit the treadmill!