Sweet Pongal Recipe | Chakkara Pongali | Sakkarai Pongal

Sakkarai Pongal or chakkara pongali , Sweet pongal with step by step pictures and video. It is generally prepared in temples as a prasadam, (an offering made to a deity). Sakkarai Pongal is made with raw rice, moong dal, ghee, cashews, raisins and milk. This type of pongal is made during the Pongal festival in Tamil Nadu and during Sankranthi festival in Andhra Pradesh which is quite similar to the savoury version ven pongal. Learn how to make sakkarai pongal with step by step pictures and video.

Sweet Pongal

Pongal or Huggi is a popular Indian rice dish. In Tamil "pongal" means "To Boil" or "bubbling up". In Telugu and Kannada, pongali is a dish of rice mixed with boiled milk and sugar.In telugu it is known as Pongali.

About Sweet Pongal (Sakkarai Pongal)

Chakarai pongal or chakkara pongali , Sweet pongal with step by step pictures and video. It is generally prepared in temples as a prasadam, (an offering made to a deity). This type of pongal is made during the Pongal festival in Tamil Nadu and during Sankranthi festival in Andhra Pradesh. Ingredients can include rice, coconut, and mung bean. Chakarai Pongal is often sweetened with jaggery, which gives pongal a brown color, though it can be sweetened with white sugar instead.

The two varieties of pongal are chakarai pongal, which is sweet, and ven pongal, which is made from clarified butter. The word pongal generally refers to spicy venn pongal and is a common breakfast food. Chakarai pongal is made during the Pongal festival.

Similar Pongal Recipes,

• Ven Pongal
• Yellow Pongal
• Rava Pongal
• Millet Sakkarai Pongal
• Aval Sweet Pongal

Watch Sakkarai Pongal Video

Sakkarai Pongal Ingredients

Raw Rice | Pacharisi - Raw rice is added for best texture and taste. It has more starch content which is best for making sweet pongal.

Split yellow moong dal | pasi paruppu - Moong dal is roasted and added in the pongal for better taste.

Milk - In many pongal recipes milk is not added. But adding a little milk makes it more creamy and tasty.

Jaggery | Sakkarai - You can add more jaggery as per your sweetness level. If you are assure of your jaggery quality. You can add it directly.

Cardamom & Ginger - Ground Cardamom & ginger is used for flavour.

Desi Ghee - Use pure ghee for taste and flavour and don't be stingy when using ghee.

Edible Camphor - this is also known as pachai karpooram which is used in pongal and other traditional sweet recipes to give it a "divine | deveega taste". This is one of the important ingredient in Temple style sakkarai pongal. You can skip it if you don't have that.

How to Make Sweet Pongal (4 Easy Steps)

Pre preparation - Take 1 tsp of ghee and roast moong dal till nice aroma comes. Remove on to a bowl. Add rice to that and soak this both for around 15 mins. Take 1 cup of water to jaggery and mix well, so that it gets dissolved. Pour this jaggery water over the cooked rice and dal through a sieve and mix well.

Pressure Cooking - Strain the rice and dal and put this in a pressure cooker along with milk and let it come to a boil. Now cover with a lid. Cook for 3 whistles or for 15-20 mins on low flame. Let the pressure go by itself. Remove it and mush it up with a spoon.

Frying Nuts & Dry Fruits - Take a kadai and add ghee in it. Add cashews, kishmish and cardamom in it and mix well. Fry till cashews turn light golden.

Making pongal - Mix cooked rice with jaggery and Stir for 5 mins on a low flame so that all flavours gets united. You could add some grated coconut at this point and mix well. Remove it and serve. 

Pongal Celebration | How we celebrate pongal

 Hope you all are getting ready for celebrating pongal tomorrow. In our house we celebrate pongal very traditionally. Amma wake up and makes us to wake up so early to get ready for pongal. She will make pongal in the front of our house using a build up stone stove and using woods and dried leaves from coconut tree to lit up fire. We call it as “Veragaduppu”. 

We buy all kinds of country vegetables like elephant yam, cucumber, raw banana and many more and put it in front of god statues as “Prasadam”. sugarcanes are must for pongal. Then we paint the floor where we will do pongal with lots of rangolis and kolams. Amma has prepared everything right now and getting ready for pongal tomorrow. Amma make sweet pongal, ven pongal, medu vada, and raw banana chips. She also make sambar, and some kind of pongal kulambu to go with it. 

How to Make Sakkarai Pongal (Stepwise Pictures)

Roasting Moong Dal

1)Take a pressure cooker in which you are going to cook pongal. Add in yellow moong dal. Dry Roast yellow moong dal till aromatic. It will take around 2 to 3 minutes. You can add a tsp of ghee for roasting.

2)Stir fry on low heat so the colour changes to light golden. This removes the raw smell from the moong dal.

3)Once it is toasted take it in a bowl and rinse well. This step removes the excess starch or the dirt from it.

Pro Tip: If you want to roast moong dal in ghee. You can rinse moong dal in prior and strain it completely to remove all the water. Then you can roast in ghee.

4)I took moong dal & rice in a sieve and rinsed it under running water till the water runs clear.

Pressure Cook Raw rice & Dal

5)I added the washed dal and rice back into the pressure cooker. Pour in 3 cups of water.

Pro Tip: If you are cooking it in a regular open pot or brass vessel, you might need to add more water. It will take around 4 to 5 cups of water.

6)Add 1 cup of milk. This step is optional, you can skip adding milk but it adds nice taste to the pongal.

7)Add some ghee. This also prevents the rice and dal from overflowing.

8)Add a pinch of salt. Adding salt to sweet dishes enhances the taste.

9)Cover and pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistle. By this time the rice and dal will be cooked completely. Let the pressure release by itself and then open the cooker.

10)The rice and dal is cooked. The rice and dal should mash well. It has to be soft. If you find the rice still hard, you have to add more water and pressure cook for 2 more whistle.

11)Once the rice and dal is cooked, use a spoon to mash the rice really well. This will make the pongal tasty.

Jaggery Syrup

12)Take jaggery in a sauce pan. Add little water and cook till it melts. Once it is melted. Boil for 5 mins. This boiling step makes the jaggery syrupy which enhances the taste.

13)Now strain this jaggery syrup into the cooked rice. Straining helps remove the dust from the jaggery.

14)Now you have to cook this on medium low heat stirring constantly till the rice and dal is mixed well.

Cooking Sweet Pongal

15)Now the jaggery is well mixed into the rice. Cook this on medium heat.

16)Now continue to cook this on low heat for at least 6 to 8 mins. Now you can see the pongal starts to thicken.

17)At this point lets add little ghee at a time and keep mixing. The more ghee you add the more taste it gets.

18)cook on low heat and keep mixing so the rice doesn't catch in the bottom.

19)Add more ghee and mix well. It will start to bubble up. Cook on low heat.

20)Now the pongal has thickened. Sweet pongal is ready.

21)Now let's add the flavourings. I used dry ginger and cardamom powder. Ginger helps will the aroma.

22)Add little cardamom powder

23)If you have edible camphor. Add a pinch of it. This is also known as pachai karpooram which is used in pongal and other traditional sweet recipes to give it a "divine | deveega taste". This is one of the important ingredient in Temple style sakkarai pongal. You can skip it if you don't have that.

24)crush the edible camphor and add it in. Don't add too much, you have to add just a pinch.

Frying Nuts

25)Heat ghee in a pan. This is for frying nuts and raisins.

26)Add cashews. You can add them whole or break them into small pieces and add.

27)fry till golden brown. Keep mixing constantly for even colouring.

28)Add kishmish. You can add any nuts like almonds as well.

Serving Sweet Pongal

29)Add the fried nuts and raisins into the pongal and mix well.

30)Sweet pongal ready to serve.

31)serve

Expert Tips

• You could cook the rice and dal in water and add a cup of thick milk later while adding jaggery water.
• Drizzle some pure ghee over the finished pongal for more taste and flavour.
• Jaggery quantity can be adjusted as per your taste. 
• Use raw rice for better texture. 
• Moong dal has to be roasted for aroma.
• Use ghee liberally for best taste.
• A little dash of edible camphor can be added for taste.

FAQ

What is sweet pongal made of?

Sweet pongal is made with moong dal, raw rice, jaggery, ghee, cashews & raisins. Raw rice and moong dal is cooked and jaggery is added with ghee later finished with cashews and nuts.

In which state sweet pongal is famous?

sweet pongal is popular all over india specially made during pongal season. But it is most popular around south part of india.

Is sweet pongal healthy?

Sweet pongal is one of the healthy nutrition rich dish since it is loaded with moong dal, rice, ghee and jaggery. It is healthy and also rich in carb.

Is edible camphor essential in making sweet pongal?

Edible camphor add a divine taste to the pongal. You can skip adding it if you don't have.

More Pongal Recipes

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