Akkaravadisal (Sweet Pongal) for my daddy

I thought of taking a short break after i posted couple of days back, but today is my dad's birthday and i miss him sooo much :((((

Here is me and my daddy...

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Near or Far...You will always be in our hearts... ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
I thought i will post his favorite sweet today for his birthday...

My dad loved traditional sweets and akkaravadisal is one of them. Akkaravadisal is similar to chakkarai pongal. Akkaravadisal, to my knowledge is the iyengar version of Chakkarai pongal and the difference that i know is, akkaravadisal is more gooey (kinda semi solid) and is cooked in milk. My dad was diabetic but he had a knack to make us give him the sweets, especially the traditional ones. He never got sneaky and knowing that we would scold him for eating too many sweets, he still managed to get what he wanted. Being a daddy's girl, i always gave in real quick and i would scold my mom (poor mom!) for making the sweet in the first place...

Here is the recipe to his favorite sweet :

Ingredients :

Rice - 1 cup

Moong daal - 1/3 cup

Milk - 2 cups

Water - 1 cup

Jaggery - as required ( i use cubes and it would've measured upto 3/4th of a cup, i think)

Ghee - 1 spoon

Cashews - a handful

Raisins - optional ( I hate raisins in any sweet and i dont add, but it is usually added :))

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Saffron - a pinch

Milk - another 1/2 cup.

Method :
Mine is a quick and easy way and i have no clue how my mom and mil make it. The first time i made it, it tasted great and i just continued making it this way and never bothered to check with either of them.

1. Pressure cook washed rice and daal with 1 cup water and 2 cups milk. Adding milk gives it a rich, creamy texture and hence you don't need to use litres of ghee to make it taste good.

2. In the meanwhile boil 1/2 cup milk with saffron and cardamom powder in microwave.

3. Once the rice and daal are cooked and the pressure is released, add the milk, jaggery pieces to the rice-daal and mix well. Cook once again in the pressure cooker for one whistle.

4. Once the pressure is released mix it well.

5. In a pan, heat some ghee (i only use 1 spoon) and roast cashews and garnish the pongal with cashews.