Mogar with Chansi Ka Chawal & a teaspoon of rekindling

Story and recipe by Mansi @overripestories @mansitibrewala:

My grandfather has a huge family. Before my grandparents got married, my grandmother would never enter the kitchen. After getting married, she started learning how to cook and feed a family that was the size of a small army. This was one of the dishes that is made during festivals. 

When I was younger and couldn’t eat by myself, my mom or grandmother would feed me this whenever it was made. As I started growing older and could eat by myself, I became very picky about what I would eat and this dish never made my list. Whenever this dish was made during festivals, something else would always get made for me as I would refuse to eat this. But since a few years, I have rekindled with this dish and now I eagerly look forward to those festivals when it's cooked and eat it till my pant buttons pop. I eat this dish with potato yogurt sabzi.

Recipe

Ingredients:

For Chasni Chawal

1 cup sugar

1 cup basmati rice - soaked for ½ hour and boiled with ½ teaspoon yellow food colour

1 tbsp ghee

2 cloves

For Mogar

1 cup yellow moong dal - soaked for an hour and drained

1 tbsp oil

½ tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

¼ tsp haldi (turmeric powder)

Salt to taste 

Method:

For the chasni chawal 

Heat the ghee in a non-stick pan, add the cloves and sauté on a medium flame for a few seconds. 

Add the cooked rice, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 1-2 minutes while stirring continuously. 

Add the sugar, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 4-5 mins while stirring occasionally. Keep aside. 

For the mogar

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan, add jeera and sauté on a medium flame for a few seconds. 

When the seeds crackle, add the drained moong dal, haldi, and salt, mix well. 

Sprinkle a few drops of water in the pan, cover it with a lid and add water to the like and cook on a slow flame for 5-6 minutes, while stirring occasionally. 

Serve hot with chasni chawal.