Pongal is one of the most popular four day long harvest festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu. It falls in mid January. It is like a Thanksgiving occasion to nature. Chakkara Pongal is a delicacy made from newly harvested rice. It is cooked with jaggery, ghee and cashew nuts and is offered to sun god. Today let us learn how to make sakkarai pongal or sweet pongal following our easy and fool proof recipe with step wise pictures.
Sweet Pongal Recipe-Sakkarai Pongal-Chakkarai Pongal
Prep Time : 15 mins
Cook Time : 20 mins
Serves: 2-3
Recipe Category: Dessert
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Serves: 2-3
Recipe Category: Dessert
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Ingredients needed
Raw Rice – 1/2 cup
Moong dal/pasi paruppu – 1/4 cup
Jaggery – 1 cup grated
Cashew nuts -2 tbsp
Raisins -2-3 tbsp
Cardamom – 4 pods or 1/4 tsp powder
Ghee/clarified butter -1/4 cup
Ghee -1/2 tsp (for jaggery syrup)
Preparation
Dry roast rice and dal separately until it is hot to touch. It is not necessary to fry until it changes color.
Pressure cook rice and dal together with 2 1/2 cups of water. Mash it well and keep it aside. (I have used old rice. For new rice, add only 2 cups of water.)
If using cardamom pods, peel and powder cardamom. Keep it aside.
Method
Heat 1/4 cup of water in a pan and add jaggery to it. When it dissolves, filter it to remove impurities. Boil jaggery water with a tsp of ghee on medium heat. Take a cup of water, add a tsp of jaggery syrup to it, if it does not dissolve, then it is the right stage to add mashed rice and dal. (I make it very clear – you do not have to boil the jaggery water until it reaches sticky consistency or string consistency)
Add mashed rice, dal mixture and cook for a few minutes until everything gets blended well as in the picture below. Add cardamom powder at this stage.
Fry cashew nuts in a tsp of ghee. Remove from pan and add to the rice dal mixture.
Add the rest of the ghee and fry raisins until they puff up and add it to the rice dal mixture along with ghee.
Cook for a few minutes on low heat until everything gets blended well. Serve hot.
Enjoy delicious Sakkarai pongal!! (You can never go wrong with this recipe).
Puran Poli is usually made for Bhogi (first day of Pongal)- Do check out my easy step by step recipe of Puran Poli with pictures.
Do check out Ven Pongal Recipe with step wise pictures.
If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you pin it or share it with your Facebook fans or Twitter followers or Google+ circles today. All it takes is a simple click on the “pin it” “like,” “share,” “tweet,” or Google+ buttons below the post. It will keep me motivated. Thank you!
Loved ur pot, yummy sweet pongal..
Very nice presentation. Sakkarai pongal looks so yummy..
Sakkarai pongal looks very traditional and delicious with beautifully taken pictures. You have got very good collection of tamilian recipes. Thanks for leaving your nice comments on my blog. And wishing you a very happy new year.
loved ur pot..u get it frm india..nice one……ponggal looks yummy!
yummy–the presentation is fab !
dil khush kar diya aapne…
I like sweets very much and pongal…"sharkarai pongal"… great. I have accumulated many recipes when I am home.
wow yummy pongal and loved ur presentation
pongal speacial…….thanks for the recipe padhu
Delicious pongal..love your pot.
Love Sakkarai pongal and your pic looks so festive!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sakkarai pongal looks delicious. Nice presentation
nice one Padhu
yummypogal the pot is very beautiful
Delicious…I'm in love with that pot 😉
Mouthwatering sweet pongal beautiful presentation and click.
Love the Pongal pot..Sweet Pongal looks yummy and a very festive presentation!!
Gayu
http://ensamayalarangam.blogspot.com
This look nice and good. Happy New Year to you !
The sweet pongal looks so mouthwatering and beautiful. Nice presentation and clicks too.
OMG!!! I'm totally speechless now!
I love ponggal rice anytime in the year! Sometimes I'll ask my mom to make it during odd hours too..hahaha!
Ur pot with the ponggal rice makes me salivate! I just couldn't help myself from drooling!!! 😀
I loved the pot….whole pic luks traditional
wish u a very happy newyear 2011..padhu…
oh that pot looks so cute and pongal slurp 🙂
Yummy pongal and great presentation!
You have a great photographic skill as well – good alrounder 🙂
hmm nice recipe
Too Yummy
Hi Padhu,
Made an attempt of this recipe for this year's Ponggal, and I must trully admit, it turned out very well…Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe, will surely make this more often & credit surely goes to you 🙂
I wish more people put useful comments and share with others how the dish turned out rather than just saying how much they liked the picture and pot
Hi Padhu, Iam an ardent follower of your recipes. I tried this recipe for the first time and I must say it turned out fantastic. Never thought Chakkarai pongal was so easy to make. All credits to u.. Keep posting new recipes.. Thnx a ton once again 🙂
So delicious
Clear instructions and easy to follow. Thumbs up!
Very nice
Hey I have a doubt.. Your recepie is with solid jaggery. If I already have liquid jaggery how much of it should I add? Should I add it directly to the rice/moong dal mixture or first boil it and then add it?
You should boil it and then add. Follow the same procedure above. You can add jaggery depending on the sweetness you need.
Madam, I'm newly married and I'm following ur recipes day by day. Today I tried sarkarai pongal. It was so nice.
Thanks a lot.
I've made pongal before but this came out so perfect as did your ven pongal!! Thanks for your recipes!
This is a great recipe. Do you have a substitute for jaggery?
Hi, Tried ur recipe and it came out really well. I am not a great cook, but this recipe is simple and more importantly, the outcome was awesome. I loved my sakkarai pongal.:) I made it for this Pongal festival. Few things that I changed to suit my needs: Added more jaggery and ghee. Did not dry roast rice / dal.
Many many thanks for this wonderful recipe.
How many whistles to cook rice
Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles.
I did the recipe it's really tasty
You are my ready reckoner for all recipes. Thank you so much Padhu, after getting married I've not made a single call asking my mom for a recipe. You have been guiding me through. Can't thank you enough
Came out well !!! Delecious and yummy …
Thanks a lot for your recipes Mam, I refer to ur blog whenever I need.Very helpful information, Thanks again
In the ingredients you had mentioned 1/2 tsp of ghee for jaggery syrup and in the instructions you said – Boil jaggery water with a tsp of ghee. So which is right. I know it shouldnt make a big difference with either. Please let me know
I am sorry. I will update it but as you say it does not make a big difference. You can add 1 tsp of ghee.
Hi! How much is 1/2 cup in grams?
A cup is a measure of volume, but a gram is a measure of mass. It depends on what you measure. In this recipe
1/2 cup raw rice = 125 grams. I use standard measuring cups and spoons for all my recipes. Check my measuring spoons and cups. Also check this post on Cups to gram conversion
Superrrrr……. Rrrrr
Came out extremely delicious!
Hi Padhu
Tried this recipe on the occasion of Pongal. It came out well & was enjoyed by my Tam Bram hubby 🙂 Thanks – Anita
Excellent recipe. The proportions were just right and by following your step-wise instructions made it so simple. Thank you.
Don't I need to wash the rice n dal?
After roasting it, you can wash both together and then cook.
Awesome recipe.you always make things simple and to enrich our taste buds at the fullest. When ever I search for recipe I chose your site. Thank you good job keep it going.
Can I make using idli arisi or rice making arisi for sakarai pongal ?
You can use any rice.
I tried this recipe today.. I cant believe the result.. it was good… p.s. this was my first attempt in making pongal. Thanks for the simple yet sooperb recipe 🙂
-Priyanka
Lovely!!
Tried the recipe and keep came out super yummy! 🙂 Thanks a ton!
Thanks for the recipe. Sakkarai Pongal came out really well.