While all our festivals involve food in some way or the other, no other occasion comes even close to Sankranti. Of course the fact that Sankranti, Pongal and Bihu falls on the same day means that the festival is celebrated throughout India in one form or the other and is not confined to North or South India.
In East India, families make payesh (rice kheer) with date palm jaggary and new rice. It’s a taste unlike any other. The earthiness of the new rice combined with the unique flavour of the jaggary makes notun gurer payesh (rice kheer with new jaggary) the favourite sweet dish of Bengalis, and of everyone else after they have tasted it.
Similarly in South India, variations of Pongal, sweet as well as savoury, are prepared traditionally with new rice.
Notun Gurer Payesh (Rice Kheer with Date Palm Jaggary)
With most cities having a sizeable Bengali population, getting date palm jaggary during winters should not be a problem. In East India they use a specific rice called Gobindo Bhog which is a newly-harvested rice. However any local rice will do other than Basmati.
Ingredients
3/4 cup rice, washed
2 litre full cream milk
250 gm date palm jaggary
100 gm sugar
Method
Wash the rice in several changes of water and keep aside.
Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium flame. Once the milk reduces a bit, add the rice to the milk. Continue stirring to ensure that the rice does not get lumpy and no layer forms on the milk. Keep checking to see if the rice is done. Add the sugar once the rice is cooked.
When the milk has reduced by more than half and is quite thick, add the jaggary and stir. The kheer will condense further once the jaggary is added. Remove from heat and wait till it has completely cooled down before transferring to the fridge. This can be served hot or cold as a dessert.
Pongal
The first day of the Tamil month of Thai marks the beginning of Pongal, the harvest festival. The dish is named after the festival and though traditionally cooked during this time, it’s delicious enough to be eaten around the year.
Ingredients
1 cup rice
1/4 cup moong dal
1 tsp whole jeera
1 tsp black
peppercorns and a generous pinch of ground black pepper
A few broken cashew nuts
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Ghee
Method
In a pressure cooker, dry roast the moong dal till it colours a little. Add the rice along with two and a half cup of water and bring to a boil.
Add turmeric powder, coconut and a tsp of ghee to the rice and pressure cook till done. Set aside.
In a small pan heat a tbsp of ghee and add the jeera, peppercorns and cashew nuts and fry for a couple of seconds till the jeera splutters. Add the contents of the pan into the cooked rice, add ground pepper, salt and a bit more ghee. Serve hot with pickles or raita.