Sakkarai pongal or sweet pongal is a thick rice pudding of raw rice, some lentils, sweetened with jaggery. It's big on Thai Pongal day, the Tamil harvest festival, and is relished by one and all.

Find ven pongal recipe here

Ingredients
1 cup raw rice
¼ cup moong dal (green gram dal)
¾ cup grated jaggery, or as required
1 cup full fat milk + ½ cup water (or 1.5 cups low fat milk)
A few cashew nuts
A few raisins
2 tbsp + 1 tbsp ghee
3 cardamom pods, crushed fine

Preparation
Wash the rice and dal together
Add the milk + water and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles or 15 minutes. We want the rice + dal to turn nice and mushy
Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp ghee and roast the cashew nuts and the raisins until golden brown
Remove from fire and sprinkle cardamom powder on top. Give it a mix and set aside
Once the pressure leaves the cooker, open gently and while the rice and dal mixture is still hot, mix in the grated jaggery, roasted nuts, and raisins
If the pongal is too thick at this stage, add some boiled milk by the tbsp
If the mixture is too loose, keep on low flame and mix continuously till the desired consistency is achieved
Mix in one more tbsp of ghee and serve warm


(The author is a food blogger who blogs @www.cookingandme.com)

Notes
Traditionally, sakkarai pongal is made by simmering the rice and dal in the milk until soft but since that process takes longer, we cooked it in the pressure cooker.

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