Sweet Pongal is a creamy and delicious South Indian festive dish, traditionally prepared during Pongal festival, usually celebrated in mid-January. Pongal is a popular 4 day long harvest festival. Sweet (chakkara) pongal is a delicacy traditionally prepared using newly harvested rice.
Ingredients
1. Moog dal (yellow split gram) – ¼ cup
2. Raw rice – 1 cup
3. Milk – ½ cup
4. Water - -5 cups
5. Jaggery – 250 gm
6. Ghee – ¼ cup
7. Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
8. Nutmeg powder – a pinch
9. Cashew nuts and raisins, fried in ghee
10. Salt
Preparation
1. Dry roast the dal. Keep aside.
2. Wash rice and roasted dal and strain it.
3. In a pressure cooker add 5 cups of water, ½ cup of milk and 1 Tbsp of ghee. Add rice and dal and cook covered on medium flame for 4 whistles. Keep aside. The cooked rice and dal will be nice and mushy.
4. Melt jaggery in ½ cup of water and strain it. In a pan add the strained jaggery and 1 Tbsp of ghee and boil it till it becomes little thick (when you touch it should stick between the finger).
5. Add the cooked rice, dal and a pinch of salt and cook till it becomes slightly thick.
6. Add fried cashew nuts, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder and mix well.
7. Add rest of the ghee and mix and remove from fire.
8. Add fried raisins and mix well and is ready to serve.
Tips
1. Roasting dal gives good flavour.
2. Sweet pongal will thicken as it cools. Adjust consistency accordingly.
3. A pinch of edible camphor can be added at the end along with the fried nuts.
4. Adding the fried raisins at the end retains its sourness.
5. If the rice is new then use only 4 cups of water.
6. Colour of the pongal changes with colour of jaggery. I used dark jaggery.
7. Coconut milk can be used in lieu of normal milk.
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