Sakkarai pongal is a sweet dish made with rice, lentil, jaggery, cardamom, raisin and cashew nuts. It is prepared at the time of “Thai pongal” is a harvest festival celebrated in Tamilnadu. Apart from Pongal day celebrations, sakkarai pongal is prepared at Hindu temples during any festival. Here I am going to show you my way of making simple and tasty sakkarai pongal.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup – Raw rice
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups – Jaggery (grated, adjust according to the taste)
• 1 no – Cardamom
• 10 nos – Cashew nuts
• 10 nos – Raisin
• 1/4 cup – Ghee
• 1 pinch – Salt

Preparation method:

1. Soak grated jaggery in water enough to cover it. Drain juice and set aside.
2. Heat ghee in a pan, fry cashew nuts and raisins to a golden brown color, set aside.
3. Wash and soak rice for 30 mins. Pressure cook rice with a pinch of salt for upto 4 or 5 whistles or until massy. Wait for steam to release, once cool down,mash cooked rice with ladle then add jaggery juice little by little and stir it continuously over medium heat.
4. Add crushed cardamom along with ghee and cook until raw smell of jaggery goes off. Finally add fried cashew nuts and raisin along with ghee, mix well. Serve hot with ghee on top.

Notes:

• In traditional sakkarai pongal split green gram (paasi paruppu) and coconut pieces are added. You can add 1/4 cup paasi paruppu and 2 tbsp of coconut pieces to this recipe.
• Add 3 cups of water for 1 cup of raw rice while cooking the rice.