Corn Moong Dal Dates Okkarai

Corn is the powerhouse of vitamins and minerals, it's high fibre content presents colon cancer, controls diabetics and hypertension, reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Moong dal is the superior of all pulses. It's packed with tons of nutrients, cools the body and digests easily, thus suitable for people of all age groups.

Corn puttu flour is commonly available in departmental stores nowadays. Rava moong dal okkarai is what I usually make but this time substituted corn puttu flour for rava and it turned out tasty.

Corn Moong Dal Dates Okkarai

Serving : 4

Ingredients:

Corn puttu flour / corn meal - 1 cup

Moong dal - 1/2 cup

Jaggery - 3/4 cup (measure tightly packed)

Dates - 10

Water - 4 cups

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Ghee - 2 tsp

Cashew nuts and Raisins

Preparation Method:

1. Finely chop dates. Keep aside.

2. Melt jaggery with little water and boil it. When it comes to a boil, turn off the stove and filter it. Keep aside.

3. Boil 4 cups of water. Keep aside.

4. In a non-stick kadai, heat 1 tsp ghee and fry the cashew nuts and raisins. Transfer them to a cup.

5. To the same kadai, add the remaining ghee and fry the washed moong dal till a roasted aroma comes. Do not burn it.

6. Add 2 cups of boiling water to the dal. Be careful when pouring water, it may splatter. Add the chopped dates and cook till the dal is done.

7. When the dal is done, add the remaining 2 cups of water. When it comes to a boil, add the corn puttu flour / corn meal and stir continuously to avoid lumps.

8. When corn is cooked, add filtered jaggery syrup and cardamom powder, stir over low flame till it thickens.

9. Garnish with fried cashew nuts and raisins.

Notes:

When the corn moong dal dates okkarai is cooked, initially it will have the consistency of a very thick pudding, after it cools down a little you can scramble it with fork to get the okkarai consistency.