Sweet Pongal
Abhipriya Raghav
Swwet pongal or chakkara pongal is a dish made with moong dal, rice and jaggery prepared especially during Hindu festivals.
Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 25 minutes mins
Course Festive Dish, Sweets
Cuisine Indian
- 1/2 cup raw rice
- 1/4 cup split moong dal, yellow
- 2.5 cups water, for cooking dal and rice
- 100-120 grams jaggery
- 1/2 cup water, to melt the jaggery
- 3 green cardamoms, crushed
- 4 tbsp ghee
- 10-15 cashews, split
- 1 tbsp golden raisins
Wash the rice and moong dal and drain all the water.
Transfer the rice and moong dal to a pressure cooker along with 2.5 cups of water and pressure cook for 5-6 whistles or until the rice and dal can be mashed thouroughly.
Meanwhile, add 1/2 cup water and grated or powdered jaggery to a kadai and melt it until jaggery completely dissolves.
Let the pressure settle naturally. Open the cooker and mash the rice and the dal completely.
When the jaggery completely dissolves in water, filter it using a strainer in a bowl and add the crushed cardamoms to it.
Take the mashed rice and dal in a kadai on low heat and add the filtered jaggery water to it. Mix well.
Add 2 tbsp ghee and mix well.
Add 2 tbsp ghee to a tadka pan and let it heat. Add the cashews to it and fry them until golden brown.
Switch off the stove and add the golden raisins.
Add the fried cashews and raisins to the pongal along with the ghee and mix until fully incorporated.
Serve with some ghee drizzled over.
- Depending upon the quality of the dal and rice used, pressure cook them.
- The dal and rice should break when mashed.
- While mashing, if the dal and rice seems very dry, then add some water and mash it.
- Add generous amount of ghee. Do not compromise on it.
- Fry the cashews until golden brown. Do not let it burn.
- Add the raisins only after switching off the stove. The heat is enough for them to fry.
- Pour the fried cashews and raisins immediately on the pongal.
- Instead of whole crushed cardamom, even cardamom powder can be added.
Keyword indian, jaggery, Lockdown Series, moong dal, pongal, rice, south Indian, sweet