Sweet Pongal is also known as Sakkarai Pongal in Tamil language and is a sweet dish made during festive occasions in South India. It is an important neivediyam for Lord Balaji. Our family diety being Lord Balaji, it’s crucial that we start all puja’s with a neivediyam of Pongal and Vadai to God.
I have made this in the pressure cooker, but can be made in the traditional way by boiling rice and dal and adding jaggery to it. This is time consuming but tastes way too delicious than the pressure cooked one.
Important Points While Preparing Sweet Pongal:
- Sweet pongal is always prepared from jaggery which also makes it more flavourful. But as an alternative, you can also use white crystal sugar or brown sugar as a replacement.
- I normally use sona masuri rice in this recipe and I recommend the same.
- Make sure it is cooked well before the jaggery syrup is added to it otherwise it will not mix well.
- The temple style sakkarai pongal recipe typically contains camphor added to it in a small quantity. If you wish to have authentic one, feel free to add a crushed small portion of it at the end of recipe.
Servings
4
servingsPrep time
10
minutesCooking time
40
minutesIngredients
1 cup plain rice,
1/2 cup moong dal,
1-1/2 to 2 cups jaggery, crushed,
6-8 cashews,
6-8 raisins, (optional)
1 tsp cardamom powder,
1/4 cup cup ghee,
4 cups water,
Method
- Dry roast moong dal and set it aside.
- Wash the rice and moong dal. In a pressure cooker, add the rice and dal, add 4 cups of water cook on medium flame for 4 whistles.
- Once the pressure is released, open and mix well mashing the dal and rice together.
- In another vessel, add the jaggery and about 1-2 tsp of water. Allow it to melt completely. Now using a tea strainer, pass this jaggery syrup through it into the mashed rice. This process is important because sometimes the jaggery has impurities and if added directly to the rice, it will spoil the taste completely.
- Switch on the stove and stir the rice mix well on a low-medium flame.
- In a tadka add the ghee and fry the cashews.
- Pour this ghee little by little and keep on stirring till pongal leaves the sides of the vessel.
- Add powdered cardamom lastly and mix well.
- Serve hot with a generous serving of ghee!!!
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