Atoll – Rice and Channa Dal Pudding

Atoll (Attol) is a slowly disappearing Goan sweet recipe. It is gluten-free. Made with rice, yellow channa dal, coconut and cardamom. We grew up eating a lot of homemade evening tea snacks and sweets in Goa. Some of them being Moong Dal Gorchem, Boiled Sweet Potatoes, Moong Dal Chunn, Alle Belle, Xiro, Banana Pancakes, Nankhatais, Baath, Pinaca, Patolios, Doce de Grao, Bolinhas de Coco and a few more.

Many of the Goan recipes are gluten-free, Atoll is one of them. The Goan coconut jaggery plays an important role in many of the Goan sweets. It has a rich dark brown color and is made from coconut sap that is boiled down till hardened to form small triangular blocks. It melts very easily and soften to touch. It has the same amount of calories as regular sugar but has vitamin and minerals. Since it is not refined it’s a great alternative to regular white sugar. You can read more about the differences between the two here.

Please note: For this recipe instead of yellow channa dal I have used split green peas (green pea dal) as it is readily available at the grocery stores in the US. I also had to replace a full freshly grated coconut with frozen grated coconut and coconut milk. And finally if you do not have access to coconut jaggery than you can use regular jaggery or molasses.

Serving Size: 6-8

Ingredients

3/4 cup raw rice (washed and cooked as per instructions)

1/2 cup split green peas or yellow channa dal ( washed and cooked as per instructions)

1/2 cup grated frozen coconut

1 cup of coconut milk

4-5 crushed whole cardamom

1.5 to 2 square of coconut jaggery or 1/3 cup of molasses

Pinch of salt

Directions:

Cook the rice and dal as per instructions, once’s done in a pot add the cooked rice, dal and the remaining ingredients. Keep stirring them together for 10-15 minutes on medium-low heat till the rice thickens like pudding.

Transfer in a 9-inch spring-form pan and let cool and set for at-least 30-60 minutes.

Slice and enjoy with your evening tea or as a dessert. You can refrigerate the rest for a couple of days. Just warm it up in the microwave for couple of seconds before serving.

Variations:

You can make another similar dish called as Orna which is made by soaking the rice overnight and ground into a paste and cooked to a pudding consistency. Then add the remaining ingredients and stir together for another 10 to 12 minutes till it thickens.