Sweet Pongal
Sweet Pongal is a creamy, sweet porridge made with rice, lentils or moong dal and flavored with cardamoms and dry fruits. Sweet Pongal is also known as sakkarai pongal or chakkara pongal in South India. It is a festive dish traditionally made during the Pongal Festival in South India.
Sweet Pongal is sweetened with jaggery syrup and is usually loaded with ghee which gives it it’s unique flavour. The quantity of ghee added is a personal preference, but it does make it more delicious!
Sweet Pongal
Course: DessertCuisine: South indianDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes20
minutes35
minutesSweet pongal is made with cooked rice and yellow moong lentils to which jaggery is added.
Ingredients
Rice – 1/2 cup
Moong Dal – 1/3 cup
Water – 3.5 cups
Water – 1/4 cup
Jaggery (powdered or grated) – 3/4-1 cup
Cardamom Powder – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 3-4 tbsp (increase/decrease as desired)
Cashews – 12-15
Raisins – 1-1.5 tbsp
Directions
- Dry roast the moong dal and rice in a pan on low flame till its aromatic.
- The dal should not change to brown color.
- Turn off the heat.
- Wash the dal and rice together in some water and drain it fully.
- In a pressure cooker, add the washed rice and dal.
- Add the water and pressure cook for about 8-10 whistles.
- Let pressure release naturally.
- The rice and dal should be full cooked and soft and mushy and consistency should be a little liquidy – neither dry nor too liquid.
- You can add a little hot water if the pongal seems very dry.
- While rice and dal are cooking, add water to a pan along with jaggery.
- Cook till jaggery melts completely.
- Strain and add this jaggery syrup to the cooked pongal along with cardamom powder and mix well.
- In a pan, add the ghee and fry the cashews. When the cashews start changing color, add the raisins and fry together.
- Add this to the cooked pongal and mix well.
- Serve hot.
