Owing to the vast geography and diversity of culture in India, this festival is celebrated for innumerable reasons and in innumerable ways depending on the climate, agricultural environment, cultural background and location. On this day children fly kites.

I have already posted a recipe on the Pongal made with Jaggery earlier, which is traditionally made during this Pongal festival, Here is an other one which I make sometime...

I have used Red Sugar Candy / Segappu Kalkandu / Kempu Kallu Sakkare which is said to be a good one compared to the white one, In  Ayurveda and Home remedies, you would find every body always asking  us to use in  Kashayams and  powders this as sweetener or Honey as sweetener  this also helps in cough, cold etc.., I do not have much knowledge about this.., If anybody know any tips on this do share it here in the comment so everybody will have a update on it...
Here is how I made it...

SWEET PONGAL WITH KALKANDU / KALLU SAKKARE / SUGAR CANDY
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves 2 to 3

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup Rice
3 tbsp Moong Dal / Pacchai or Paitham Paruppu / Hesaru Bele / Senagu pappu
180 grms Kalkandu / sugar candy /Kallu Sakkre*
1/4 cup Ghee
6 to 7 Broken Cashews
10 to 12 Raisins
1/4 tsp powdered Yelakka / Cardamom / Elakki
A Pinch of Edible Camphor / Pacchai Karpoora 
A Pinch of Nutmeg powder
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Water + 1/4 cup

METHOD:
In a frying pan add a 1/4 tsp of Ghee and fry Moong dal for few minutes in a low flame until it changes to golden colour and a nice aroma comes out of it.  Remove it on to a plate and keep it aside until needed.
In a Pressure cooker** take 1 cup of Milk with 1 cup of water add the roasted Moong dal and washed Rice together and cook for three whistles in medium flame.*** until well cooked.

Do this after your cooker is in the process of cooling... In a thick bottomed vessel take 1/4 cup of water and Sugar candy / Kalkandu / Kallu sakkre,  heat them together for few minutes until all the sugar candy dissolves in it, keep it in a low flame when doing this then filter the liquid and put it back on the stove. and boil it for 1 string consistency****
Once it has reached 1 string consistency immediately add the cooked rice to it, keep the stove in the low flame, to this add edible Camphor, powdered Cardamom  and Nutmeg powder and a 2 tbsp of ghee and close it with a lid.
Now in a small frying pan heat the remaining ghee, add the raisins first when they start bubbling up add the broken cashews when you see a light change in colour, switch of the stove and keep it aside this helps in not burning the cashews too much.

You can see that the Rice, Dal and Kalkandu mixture might be a bit liquidy, that is fine when it is still in a semi liquidy form remove it from the stove, garnish with raisins and cashews mix them well together and now it is ready to be served.

MY NOTES:
* I used 180 grams if you like it more sweeter you can increase it to 200 grms which would be sufficient
** I have used Pressure cooker for a quick version
Points to remember as it has got milk in it, you should be very careful I just cook it exactly for 13 minutes if it doesn't give out a whistle I just switch off the stove when it is 13 minutes.
***Other wise cook both dal and rice without covering the pressure cooker lid for few minutes just keeping a ladle and covering it half with a plate in a low flame for few minutes when the rice is 3/4th cooked add an extra bit of water (1/4) cup and then close the lid and cook for few more minutes around 6 to 7 minutes if it gives out whistle then that is fine other wise just switch off the stove and check and cook until it is well done. Other wise without any cooker you can just cook with a ladle immersed and a plate covered on top until it is well done. If you are directly cooking this way do not forget to use a thick bottomed vessel.
**** Do not over boil, kalkandu looses its sweetness and it caramelizes to dark deep red colour but it will be tasteless and will not have any sweetness either.  when it is over boiled so keep an eye on it once it reaches one string consistency immediately switch off the stove scrape down the vessel around and pour the liquid onto the rice and mix well.

VERDICT:
Absolutely divine, had a demand for me to make it again so made it again the next day, Everybody at home and friends just loved it, It was so delicious and with a beautiful aroma and colour, kids who doesn't like sweets at all demanded me to prepare again as I had made very little 

This also goes to fifty-two-weeks of 2013 project by Aparna and Sra for the second week as Garnet as theme.., enjoyed immensely...
Here is my Garnety click for the second week

I belong to a community called Iyengars (Vaishnavites), as we all know that we follow calendars according to Lunar or Solar, Tamilians follow the Solar calendar and so they call their month in different names and follow a Tamil Panchangam for auspicious events like Marriages, Upanayanam etc., So accordingly this month is Maargazhi Maasam (December 15th to January 14th), This month is very Important to us as People get up very early in the Morning and Pray to God for Moksha (Salvation).  So, why is this in this month....
It's a little story which I will not be able to write it down here as it will take a lot of space!, Godai or Andal as she is called is one of the 12 Alvars, She Devoted her whole life in trying to reach God! as a small girl and in the end she marries him that's how she at last reaches his abode If you click on to the link on her name you can read the story of her, She Prays to Lord Vishnu in the month of Maargazhi, as it is the coldest month and her penance is nothing concerned to religious rites but she says as the month is so cold getting up so early in the morning and following these simple things in her life she tries to please the Lord It is kind of Tapas (Penance) in her own way and yearns for the everlasting Service to the Lord , she has a written a Poem of 30 Stanzas which is called Thirupaavai, also called Paasurams in Tamil in praise of Lord vishnu and it is a part of the Divya Prabandham, a work of the Alvars.
Each song is sung each day during this month, and unmarried girls try to follow the little things she describes as kind of penance to the Lord to get Good Husbands!!, Vishnavas sing these songs to bring Peace, Prosperity and Divine Grace towards reaching Moksha (Salvation).
In the 27th stanza, she comes out of her Penance and Dresses up nicely and makes this sweet Porridge offering to the Lord, she even describes how this sweet should be...
She says '' Today is the day she will come out of her Vratham and adornes herself with beautiful jewels and clothes and will make Ksheeranam with milk and Jaggery and lots of ghee, wherein the ghee will flow down to her elbow when offering it to the Lord'', So that is how this Shakkarai Pongal should be made with lots of Ghee!!.
Well, as the days went by and People became health consicous, nobody wants to make Pongal that way!, but still we do get Sweet Pongal as Prasadam in temples the way she describes :)).

So here is my version of Sakkarai Pongal....

SAKKARAI PONGAL (SWEET PONGAL) 

INGREDIENTS:
1 to 1 and 1/2 of Jaggery (use Paaku Jaggery / Unde Bella)
1 Cup of Raw Rice
 1/2 Cup of Green Gram /Hesaru Bele / Paitham Paruppu / Moong dal
1 tsp of Cardamom powder
A Pinch of Pacchai Karpooram (Edible Camphor)
1 and 1/2 Cup Milk
1 and 1/2 Cups of Water + 1/4 cup Water
1/4 tsp of  Nutmeg
2 tbsp of Cashewnuts
2 tbsp of Kishmish/Raisins/Dried Grapes
1/2 Cup of Pure Ghee / Clarified Butter (increase it more if you enjoy eating ghee)

METHOD:
First of all in a wok add a tsp of Ghee and fry Green Gram into Golden colour, which gives a nice aroma around the Kitchen.
Then In a thick bottomed vessel take the washed rice and Moong dal with 1 and 1/2 cup of Milk and 1 cup of Water and either cook it directly on the stove if you are using a thick bottomed vessel (Vangala Paanai) or Mud Pot, I made this in a pressure cooker, Cook dal and Rice with milk and water close a lid to the vessel and pressure cook up to 3 whistles, ( If cooking directly I close a lid to the vessel as we know that when milk boils it froths up and spills out so it is better to close it with a lid and put a ladle in it, which helps the liquid not coming out ).
Meanwhile take Jaggery and 1/4 cup of water (use Jaggery according to your tastebuds) and allow it to completely dissolve it in the water, then leave it for 2 minutes allowing the impurities to settle down,  filter the Jaggery as it usually has impurities, take the filtered Jaggery in a vessel and start to boil it, until it reaches a ball consistency you can test this by dropping a tiny bit into a cup of water, where you can see that it doesn't spread out into the water but you can see it well and where you can bring it into a ball (next time I will try to take a photo tutorial of this).
It is important that you do this even after the cooker cools because when it reaches ball consistency it becomes hard and you have a add a little bit of water to keep in this consistency until your cooker cools, It's just the timing no need to panic, Once the whistle is gone, take the cooker out from the stove and keep it on a table top on a stand (as it will be very hot!), otherwise the heat from the stove keeps the cooker still warm for a bit longer.

Either way you can do it, like I said I cooked the dal and Rice in a vessel, use a thick bottomed vessel for boiling the Jaggery , Now to this add the cooked Rice and mix well, start boiling this whole thing in a medium flame stirring now and then to keep an eye on the cooking mixture so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the vessel, as it will be a very thick once they all start coming together thick and lovely start adding Ghee it kind of swallows all the ghee, You can add a Cup of Ghee if you want and your Chakkare pongal will be very delicious as we are very health conscious we do not want so much ghee Leave around 2 tbsp of Ghee and add remaining Ghee from the 1/2 cup. I have mentioned add the other Ingredients Cardamom powder, edible camphor, nutmeg powder mix and switch of the stove and close a lid.

Now Garnish Chakkre Pongal, take 2 tbsp of ghee in a small pan once it is warm enough add chopped Raisins and broken cashewnuts fry them, Raisins becomes swollen and cashews turn golden in colour, keep the stove in a low when doing this and don't burn them add this to the Pongal mix well. 

Serve hot and Enjoy....
Notes: It is better to use Round Jaggery (Unde Bella), Check Valli's Blog for Jaggery Varities from this Recipe, she describes each one of them with a lovely click too!!
updated : Adding more ghee will not make the Chakkare pongal hard and keep it more moist, Anyway reheat in the MW for a minute before eating.