Sakkarai Pongal | Sweet Pongal | South Indian Rice Sweet

Shakkarai Pongal is a sweetened rice that is famous in Tamil Nadu. Usually made during festivals, Pongal to be exact. But as far as I know this sweet pongal is a common occurrence in my home right from childhood days till now. Earlier it used to be Appa who is a big fan of Shakkarai pongal and to fulfil his sweet tooth Amma used to make this pongal loaded with ghee and nuts but now its my husband's favourite  of course I had to get it right and according to his taste. There are various versions of Shakkarai Pongal in every household, my version is a quickie and without milk, so you can call it a simple Chakkarai pongal. Since its R's favourite  it had to be blogged. I feel that I have not done justice to the pictures and the one and only reason for this is R himself, cos he did not let me click, as he was waiting to enjoy his share of pongal which was being captured :-P. Once a month I make both Ven Pongal and Shakkari Pongal at home for our Saturday breakfast menu. So to make matters simple I pressure cook raw rice and moong dal until soft, mash it up using a laddle and divide it for the 2 recipes and do the rest. So without much delay lets go to the recipe



SHAKKAI PONGAL RECIPE

Recipe Source ~ Own
Serves ~ 3-4 generously

Ingredients

Raw Rice - 1 cup
Moong dal / Split yellow dal - 1/4 cup
Water - 3 cups (to pressure cook rice &dal)
Jaggery - 1/2 cup powdered
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Cashew - 2 tbsp chopped
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp (recommended can be reduced)
Ghee - 3 tbsp

Method

• In a bowl take both the rice and dal, soak for 10-15 mins. Heat water in a pressure cooker and once it starts to boil add the soaked rice & dal. Cover the lid and attach the cooker weight, pressure cook for 4 whistles until soft. 
• In the meantime bring 1/2 cup water to a boil, add the powdered/ grated jaggery to it, bring it to a boil and once it all melts, let it cook further to become thick, this takes 7 minutes, strain the jaggery syrup and set aside
• Let the pressure gradually settle, open the lid and using a wooded laddle partially mash the rice & dal, set aside
• In a wide pan add ghee fry the cashew and raisins one after the other and set aside. To the same pan heat the rest of the ghee add the mashed rice & dal, jaggery syrup. Once it starts to boil, add the cardamom powder and sugar mix well, cook further until it turns to a thick mass and starts to leave the pan. This takes 3 minutes.

Top with nuts & raisins serve warm / cold

Cooks Wisdom

- You can even add coconut bits or even grated coconut while frying the nuts for additional flavour
- Some love to add nutmeg and camphor (edible), if you plan to use them use a very tiny pinch of both not more than that. Since R does not like both flavours I have not used it in this recipe
- Make sure rice and dal is well cooked else add more water and pressure cook for 2 more whistles 
- You can alternately dry roast the dal before pressure cooking, but I usually don't do it
- Adding jaggery gives the yellow tint to the sweet pongal, so this may vary depending on the quality of jaggery you use