Sakkarai Pongal Recipe| Sweet Pongal | Sweet Pongal without milk

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sakkarai Pongal Recipe| Sweet Pongal | Sweet Pongal without milk

Everyone at home is enjoying the Sunday nap while I am writing this post. We are having a great weekend and as always I tried some new dishes which I will be posting in the blog soon😊. I love the sweet Pongal that is served in Saravana Bhavan and Murugan Idli shop. I already have a version of sweet Pongal here with milk. l always wanted to replicate the taste of hotel-style sweet Pongal. I got this recipe from my neighbour and it tastes divine. Let's go to the recipe:

Images updated on:13/01/2021

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1/2 Cup

Moong Dal - 2 tblsp

Jaggery(Urundai vellam) - 3/4 Cup

Ghee - 2 to 3 tblsp

Cashews - few

Raisins - few

Cardamom - 3(crushed)
Nutmeg powder - a pinch(optional)

Salt - a pinch

Water - 2.5 Cups

Method:

1. Dry roast moong dal until it turns golden brown. Along with this add the raw rice, roast it for a minute and switch off the flame. Allow the roasted moong dal, rice to cool and wash it. Pressure cook the dal and rice together with 2.5 cups of water for 4 whistles. Allow the pressure to release naturally.

2. Meanwhile, heat the jaggery with immersing level of water. Once the jaggery dissolves completely and the syrup starts to thicken, switch off the flame. Filter the jaggery syrup to remove impurities. Now, fry the cashews and raisins in some ghee until golden brown. Keep it aside.

3. Once the pressure releases, open the cooker and mash it all together. Add the jaggery syrup, crushed cardamom and pinch of salt at this stage, bring it to boil. (It may splutter at this stage)

4. Cook it in low flame by adding the ghee in intervals for another 5 to 7 minutes and switch off the flame. Add the fried cashews, raisins and mix it well.

Delicious pongal is ready and serve it by drizzling a few drops of hot ghee. To get the restaurant style Pongal, add ghee generously.

Points to remember:

Pongal gets thicker after cooling down, hence switch off the flame accordingly.
The colour of the sweet Pongal mainly depends on the jaggery. Dark coloured urundai vellam gives the authentic pongal served in restaurants and temple.
If you increase the quantity of nutmeg powder, the complete flavour of the Pongal changes and it spoils the taste.
You can also add a pinch of camphor to get the temple style flavour.