Sarkkarai Pongal / Sweet Pongal

Sarkkarai Pongal / Sweet Pongal

Sarkkarai pongal - I love making this divine dessert. When the jaggery boils, it fills the house with the festival mood. This smell of boiling jaggery is so very nostalgic. It kindles all the beautiful memories of my childhood when I used to wait for my mother to finish her cooking and start the pooja. I just cant wait to feast on the banana leaf. We use banana leaf only during festivals which is hardly 3 to 4 times a year. So, its worth waiting.

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For more Sweets/Desserts click here - Sweets

Sarkarai pongal

The sarkkarai pongal which we buy in temple is packed in Mantharai ilai. Even though it is a small portion.. when we open the pack, the fragrance of the jaggery, split moong dhall and cardamom of the sarkkarai pongal along with the unique dry-leaf flavour contributed by the mantharai ilai.. it gives us an utter satisfaction of seeing a bit of the Divine inside the mantharai ilai parcel. Thanks to our culture which made us feel God every time we go a little closer to nature. If we keenly observe our traditional recipes, we will notice that it mostly uses jaggery instead of white sugar as this jaggery is rich in iron - our wise ancestors! Okay.. allow me tell you all how do I do this divine dish.

Sarkarai pongal

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Yellow moong dhal - 1 cup
• Jaggery - 1 and 1/2 cup
• Palm sugar (Karppatti) - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom - 3 pods
• Edible camphor (Pachai karpooram) - 1/2 pinch
• Cashews and raisins - as required
• Ghee - as required
• Water - 5 cups

Procedure:

• Dry roast the moong dhal till light brown and till nice aroma spreads.
• Wash the rice and roasted moong dhal and soak it together for 30 minutes.
• Pressure cook the rice and dhal together with 4 cups water. 
• In the mean while, add 1 cup of water to the jaggery and heat it. Along with the regular cane jaggery, I use palm sugar (karuppatti) as this is healthier and has a unique smoky flavour which makes me to choose it all the time. Let the jaggery dissolve and boil for 5 minutes.
• By this time the rice and dhal would have been cooked. Now it is called pongal. 
• Filter the jaggery syrup directly onto to the pongal. Keep this pongal on stove and stir for few minutes.
• Add a couple of spoons of ghee. Stir.
• Add the crushed cardamom and edible camphor (pachai karpooram) in the end.
• Turn-off the stove.
• In another small tempering pan, heat ghee, roast cashews and raisins and transfer this beautiful couple to sweet pongal which is ready. 
• The sweet pongal is now ready to be offered to The Divine.

You can also add the ghee-roasted coconut pieces to this sweet/sarkkarai pongal.  You can also replace 1 cup of water with 1 cup milk for cooking the rice and roasted dhal. This yields a richer sarkkarai pongal. Enjoy this delicious yet healthy delicacy along with your beloved ones on the special festival occasions.

Happy cooking !!