Chekkara-Pongali/Sweet Pongal/Chakkar Pongal

Ingredients :
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Moong Dal(PesaraPappu)-1/3rd cup
Rice(Sona-Masoori/Basmati/long grain Rice)-1cup
Black color Jaggery + Sugar together- 1-1/3rdcup or little more or as per ur taste.
Ghee-3/4th cup or more.
Fresh coconut (cut into 1cm pieces)
Cashews-few or as much as u want
Raisins-few or as much as u want
pepper powder-half a pinch
Dry Ginger Powder-half a pinch
Cardamom Powder-1/4tsp
Sweet Camphor(Optional)-pinch

Procedure :
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1).Dry Roast Moong dal on medium flame until nice aroma comes and the Moong dal turns pink color .Then soak it in water for an hour or more and pressure cook it with 1: 2 ratio(dal-1 : 2water) or cook in microwave until well softened.
2).Wash Soak Rice in water for 1/2 an hour.
3).In a thick bottomed pan take Rice and 2 3/4th cup of water and bring to a boil and wait until the water evaporates.Then bring the flame to medium and cover and cook until rice is cooked well.Make sure u stir in between to avoid the rice to get stuck at the bottom and get burnt.
4).Now ghee roast the cashews and raisins individually and keep aside.Finally roast the fresh coconut in the same ghee on slow flame and keep aside.
5).Soak the jaggery in water and strain the impurities if any.Bring the jaggery water to boil for 3-4minutes.Then add sugar to it and mix it well until it melts.Add a pinch of pepper powder and dry ginger powder to the boiling sweet syrup.
6).Finally add the cooked rice,cooked and mashed moong dal to the above boiling sweet jaggery-sugar syrup and cook on medium flame until water is evaporated to 1/2.
7)Then add 2table spoon of ghee and stir it well and allow it to cook for 2min.Then add cardamom powder.
8)Add ghee in batches @ 2tbsp for every 2minutes and let it cook in ghee until the 3/4th cup of ghee is done.Then add a pinch of sweet camphor(optional).Finally garnish with ghee roasted cashews,Raisins and coconut pieces,if neeed a tsp of more ghee and allow it to cool and serve!!!!

Note :
1).Sweet camphor ,dry ginger powder,pepper powder are optional.They add tangy flavour to the chekkar pongali and give a differnt taste which reminds my gradmom's chekkarapongali which she used to make for Sankranthi festival .
2). Roasting the moong dal to desired stage(pink color) and adding more ghee is the secret of Chekkarapongali preparation that enhances the taste of the sweet and makes the dish Rich,distint and special from any other sweets.We prepare this occassionally!!Black jaggery is used generally in the preparation,if u do not get,u can buy the regular gold colored one.
3).Cook on medium flame from syrup to finish of the sweet.
4).Some people add Milk in place of water for cooking,incase u r using milk,use only sugar,please do not use jaggery.Jaggery has a small portion of salt added at the time of preparation which will curdle the milk.
5).I have used Basmati rice in cooking.U can use any rice,but make sure u cook it to right consistency.