Sakkara pongal (Sweet rice pongal) is one of the most common and traditional sweet most of us make. For festivals or auspicious occasions, it’s very handy to make sakkara pongal. Rice, moong dal, jaggery and ghee are the main ingredients for making sakkara pongal and all those ingredients are always readily available in our pantry. Rice and dal are first cooked and mashed which are then concocted with jaggery juice and ghee to get ghee-dripping, melt in mouth Sakkara Pongal!!
Tips for making Sakkara Pongal:
- Ratio of rice+dal to jaggery is 1.25: 2.5. For 1 cup of rice and 0.25 cup of moong dal, we need to add 2.5 cups of grated jaggery. The quantity of jaggery seems more, but this ratio is a perfect measure with jaggery not overwhelming and not very bland.
- The color of the pongal depends upon the quality and brand of the jaggery. Usually paagu vellam gives more dark brown consistency than regular jaggery.
- Add 1/2 cup more water while cooking rice and moong dal. Also allow more whistles to make sure the rice and dal are cooked completely and mushy.
- We can add milk and cook the rice and dal. It’s optional.
- Jaggery has some impurities like sand in it. So it is always a good choice to first dissolve jaggery and then strain it to make sure there are no sand in the syrup.
- Adding ghee in jaggery syrup is optional. But ghee flavored jaggery juice has more rich flavor.
- We add milk to adjust the consistency. Do not boil the pongal in high flame after adding milk.
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Recipe Card to make Sakkarai Pongal
Sweet pongal recipe | Chakkara pongali | Sakkarai pongal
Sakkarai Pongal is one of the common and popular dish in Tamil Nadu and South India. We make this for many festivals and auspicous days for an offering to god (naivedhyam). There are different variations being followed in making of the Sakkarai pongal based on the family tradition, customs, taste and regions. One of the most common method in our tradition and in our home is given below
Servings 6 people
Calories 220kcal
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- Heavy Bottomed Pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw Rice 1 cup = 250 ml
- ¼ cup Moong dal
- 2.5 cups Grated Jaggery
- ¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
- 1 tbsp Cashews
- 1 pinch Pachai Karpooram Optional
- 1 tbsp Raisins Optional
- 5 tbsp Ghee (Clarified butter)
- 4½ cups Water
- ½ cup Milk (optional)
Instructions
Cooking the Rice & Dal
- Heat a pan, dry roast moong dal till it gives a nice aroma. Take this roasted moong dal aside
- In a strainer, take 1 cup of rice and roasted moong dal. Rinse twice or thrice.
- Add 4.5 Cups water and mix well. Pressure cook the rice+dal allowing for 5-6 whistles. We need nicely mashed up rice and water. In temples and also in marriages, conventionally they cook the rice and dal mixture on the stove without using pressure cooker, so that way we feel a nice smoky aroma. But as we are going to do for our family, its a good option to cook in pressure cooker. Take the cooked rice+dal mixture and mash it well and set it aside
Preparing the Jaggery Syrup
- Keep a sauce pan on the stove, add jaggery along with 1/4 cup water and allow the jaggery to melt and dissolve completely.
- When the jaggery is dissolved, strain it in another pan. Keep the strained jaggery syrup on the stove. Add 2 tablespoon of ghee and stir well. Bring the jaggery syrup to boil
- When the jaggery syrup comes to rolling boil, add the mashed up dal+rice mixture. Now, add 1/2 Cup of milk. Adding milk is optional but it adds a nice flavor. But if we add milk then shelf life of the dish is only 1 day. So, if you plan to make sakkarai pongal in advance, then skip adding the milk. Do not add milk to the jaggery syrup it will become curdled. Add milk only after adding rice+dal mixture.
Finishing Pongal
- Stir well so that the rice+dal mixture gets incorporated well with jaggery syrup. Add remaining ghee along with cardamom powder and stir well. Keep in low flame and allow the pongal to become little thick.
- Meanwhile, in another pan, add a teaspoon of ghee and roast the cashews and raisins till they turn golden brown. Add the roasted cashews and raisins to the sakkarai pongal and give a final stir and switch off the flame
- The scrumptious Sakarai Pongal is ready for neivedhyam or to serve!
Video
Nutrition
Serving: 150g | Calories: 220kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 3g | Sodium: 850mg | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 6mg
Method to make Sweet Rice Pongal :
- Heat a pan, dry roast moong dal till it gives a nice aroma. Take this roasted moong dal aside
- In a vessel, take 1 cup of rice along with dry roasted moong dal. Rinse the rice twice or thrice.
- Add 4.5 Cups water and mix well. Pressure cook the rice+dal allowing for 5-6 whistles. We need nicely mashed up rice and water. In temples and also in marriages, conventionally they cook the rice and dal mixture on the stove without using pressure cooker, so that way we feel a nice smoky aroma. But as we are going to do for our family, its a good option to cook in pressure cooker. Take the cooked rice+dal mixture and mash it well and set it aside
- Keep a sauce pan on the stove, add jaggery along with 1/4 cup water and allow the jaggery to melt and dissolve completely.
- When the jaggery is dissolved, strain it in another pan. Keep the strained jaggery syrup on the stove. Add 2 tablespoon of ghee and stir well. Bring the jaggery syrup to boil
- When the jaggery syrup comes to rolling boil, add the mashed up dal+rice mixture. Now, add 1/2 Cup of milk. Adding milk is optional but it adds a nice flavor. But if we add milk then shelf life of the dish is only 1 day. So, if you plan to make sakkarai pongal in advance, then skip adding the milk. Do not add milk to the jaggery syrup it will become curdled. Add milk only after adding rice+dal mixture.
- Stir well so that the rice+dal mixture gets incorporated well with jaggery syrup. Add remaining ghee along with cardamom powder and stir well. Keep in low flame and allow the pongal to become little thick.
- Meanwhile, in another pan, add a teaspoon of ghee and roast the cashews and raisins till they turn golden brown. Add the roasted cashews and raisins to the sakkarai pongal and give a final stir and switch off the flame
- The scrumptious Sakarai Pongal is ready for neivedhyam or to serve!
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| Sweet Rice Pongal / Sakkarai Pongal |
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