Pongal is one of t most popular four day long harvest festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu. It falls in the mid of January. It is like a Thanksgiving occasion to nature. Sakkarai pongal is a delicacy made from newly harvested rice. It is cooked with jaggery, ghee, cashew nuts and is offered to sun god. Let us move to the recipe…

Sweet Pongal / Sakkarai Pongal / Chakkarai Pongal

Ingredients:

• Raw rice – 1 cup
• Moong dal / Green gram dal – ½ cup
• Jaggery – ¾ cup (Crushed)
• Cashew nut – 2 tbsp
• Raisinis – 2 tsp
• Cardamom – 4 pods
• Ghee / Clarified butter – ¼ cup
• Grated coconut – ¼ cup
• Milk –1 cup

Crushed Jaggery

Rice with jaggery

With coconut

Sweet Pongal / Sakkarai Pongal / Chakkarai Pongal

Preparation:

• Dry roast rice and moong dal with ghee in a kadai.
• Pressure cook both rice and greengram dal /moong dal together for about 2 whistles in 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of water.
• Crush the jaggery to pieces.
• Open the cooker and put the jaggery to it, stir it for a while, till it gets dissolved in the rice. Put the stove in sim.
• Fry cashew nuts and raisins in ghee to golden brown colour.
• Stir in the rice every now and then.
• Put the grated coconut to the rice and continue stirring till the raw smell goes off.
• Pour in the roasted cashew nuts and raisins along with the ghee.

Serve hot. This goes out well with breakfast and also can be served as Dessert.