When I think of festivals, the first thing that comes to mind is a house full of people with fun, laughter and then sweets! Every festival has a traditional sweet associated with it and Pongal festival is no exception.
Today, I am going to share with you a delicious sweet pongal recipe to celebrate pongal festival.
For those who are unfamiliar with this festival, Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by South Indians. Each South Indian state has a different name for the festival and we Tamilians call it Pongal (meaning to boil over or overflow).
Traditionally, freshly harvested rice is cooked in milk in a clay pot until it boils over and it is sweetened by the adding jaggery to it. The sweetened pongal (sakkarai pongal) is then tempered with ghee and nuts and spiced with aromatic crushed cardamom. There is also a savory version of this pongal dish where rice and lentils is tempered with cumin and pepper. But both the sweet and savory version use the same base ingredients and are cooked to the same mushy consistency. They both use a good amount of ghee for the flavor and taste. It’s a celebration after all and ghee makes everything feel festive! Doesn’t it?
How difficult is this sweet pongal recipe?
This sweet pongal (sakkarai pongal) recipe is one of the easiest sweet dishes you can make. The ingredients needed for this is minimal too. If you have an instant pot or pressure cooker, the cooking process is even more simplified. If you don’t own one, no worries, it is still pretty simple.
Is there a vegan version of sweet pongal (sakkarai pongal)?
The traditonal sweet ponagl recipe is not vegan. The rice is cooked in milk and you add ghee while tempering the dish with nuts and raisins. But the dish can be easily veganised and I have made it a lot of times without any dairy. They still taste good. I will share the notes to make it vegan at the end of the recipe. Tips for making the best sweet pongal recipe:
- The consistency of the cooked rice and dal is important. Make sure they are nice and mushy. Something to be careful about if you are cooking the rice in an open pot.
- The quality of jaggery used affectes the taste of the dish. Taste the jaggery you have and add it accordingly. I find a huge difference in the jaggery we get here in the US and in India. Indian ones are much sweeter in taste.
- Use good quality ghee (if vegan use neutral tasting oil like vegetable or avocado oil ) and use a lot of cashews and raisins while temepring.
- Roasting the moong dal gives a good flavor although this step is optional. For the best flavor roast the lentils for couple of minutes or so until you get a nice aroma.
Let’s jump to the sweet pongal recipe:
sweet rice and lentil dish cooked during pongal festival, where rice is cooked with milk, jaggery and flavored with cardamom
- 1 cup white rice
- 1/4 cup yellow moong dal
- 11/2 cups Powdered Jaggery (check the sweetness of your jaggery and adjust accordingly. If its very sweet, use 1 cup)
- 2 to 3 tbsp ghee
- 2 tbsp chopped cashews
- 1 tbsp raisins
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder or crush 4 to 5 green cardamom pods
- 2 cups milk ( if vegan substitute with water)
- 21/2 cups water
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Switch on the saute mode on your Instant pot and add the moong dal to it. Roast it until nice and fragrant for a couple of minutes. Remove it.
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Add the moong dal, rice to a bowl and wash them well.
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Now add the washed rice, dal to the instant pot, add water and milk. Cook in manual high for 15 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. (If vegan, substitute the milk with more water)
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When the pressure subsides, add the powdered jaggery to the rice/ dal mixture and saute/ simmer them again in low or medium heat for about 8 to 10 minutes until the jaggery gets mixed with the rice well. ( If using jaggery cubes, melt the jaggery in about 1/2 cup water separately in the stove until no lumps remain and add the melted jaggery water to the cooked rice and let it simmer ) Keep stirring once in a while so that they dont get stuck at the bottom.
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While the rice and jaggery are cooking, heat a small pan and add the ghee to it (vegans can use any neutral tasting oil ) When the ghee becomes hot, add the cashews, raisins and saute them until the cashew turns golden.
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Add the ghee- cashew mixture to the pongal and add the crushed or powdered cardamom as well. Mix everything well. Let it simmer for couple more minutes. If at this stage the pongal is too thick, add 1/2 cup or more hot water and mix well. If it is too runny, let it simmer for some more time. Remember, the pongal will thicken some more when cooled.
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Serve hot with an extra dollop of ghee.
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Roast the yellow moong dal in the pressure cooker until nice and golden. Remove it and set it aside.
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Now wash the rice, dal well and add it to the pressure cooker with water and rice. Cook for about 4 to 5 whistles. Let the presure release naturally.
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While you wait for pressure to subside, powder the jaggery. If using jaggery cubes, melt them with 1/2 cup water, until no lumps remain.
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Now open the pressure cooker and add the powdered or melted jaggery to it and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. If at this stage the pongal is too thick, add 1/2 to 1 cup hot water as needed to dilute it. If too thin, let it simmer for more time until it thickens. Remember, the pongal will thicken some more when cooled.
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Add the crushed cardamom or powdered cardamom to it.
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Now heat a small pan with ghee and when it becomes hot, add the cashews, raisins and roast them until the cashews turn golden. Add them to the pongal and mix well.
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Serve hot with an extra dollop of ghee.
- Adjust the consistency of the ponagl by adding hot water to it as needed. The pongal will thicken as it cools.
- I haven’t tried the pongal with plant based milk. But it tastes very good even if it is cooked with just water and no milk.
- Some people like to add a tiny pinch of edible camphor for some flavor. If using camphor, add it at the end, while adding the cashews and raisins and mix well.
- If you are cooking the rice and dal in an open pot, cook them with lots of water/ milk until they are well cooked and mushy. Proceed with the temperings and other steps as mentioned above.
Make this easy and delicious sweet pongal recipe to celebrate your pongal festival this year.
Don’t want to wait till pongal? Make it anyways when you have a sweet craving 🙂 Do take a picture and tag me on social media if you make it. Would love to be a part of your celebration! Use the hashtag #cookingwithpree
Quick question. In the first step it says sauté the moong dal. In step two it says to was moong. dal and rice.
Do you add more moong dal when you add the rice? If so what portion please.
I’ve never made this and it looks delicious so desperate to give it a go.
Thank you
HI Fozia, So you roast the moong dal in the first step so you get a nice aroma. Then you set it aside. Then you add the roasted moong dal and the rice to the pot along with water etc to cook it 🙂
Hope this helps 🙂
Beautiful photographs and how can anyone resist Sweet Pongal? I certainly cannot. Looks delicious and I love the slightly mashed consistency also, just the way we prefer it at home.
Thanks Vidya! I prefer my pongal in a mashy consistency too 🙂 Also it needs to be super hot 🙂