Sakkarai Pongal
The signature Iyengar temple sweet — raw rice and moong dal cooked with jaggery, milk and ghee till glossy and unctuous, finished with cardamom, edible camphor and roasted cashews-raisins. Served as the main prasadam in Vaishnavite temples (Tirumala, Srirangam) on Vaikuntha Ekadashi and during the Tamil month of Margazhi.
Ingredients
- Milk — 500 g
- Jaggery — 250 g (powdered)
- Sona Masuri Rice — 150 g (washed)
- Moong Dal — 50 g (dry-roasted)
- edible camphor (optional) — 1 g
- raisins — 20 g
- Ghee — 80 g
- salt (optional) — 1 g
- Cashew Nuts — 25 g (broken)
- Cardamom — 3 g (powdered)
Method
- Dry-roast 50 g moong dal till light golden. Wash with rice (150 g).
- Pressure-cook rice + dal with 500 ml water and 200 ml milk for 4 whistles. Mash gently till mushy.
- In a thick-bottomed pan, melt 250 g jaggery in 80 ml water. Filter to remove impurities.
- Pour the jaggery syrup into the cooked rice-dal. Stir on low for 5 min till the mass thickens and turns glossy.
- Add remaining 300 ml milk + 60 g of the ghee in installments. Stir 6-8 min till creamy and unctuous.
- In remaining 20 g ghee, fry cashews till golden, then raisins till plumped. Add to pongal with cardamom and a tiny pinch of edible camphor.
- Switch off, rest covered 5 minutes. Offer hot to the deity, then serve.
Common questions
- How many calories in one plate of Sakkarai Pongal?
- 736 kcal per plate.
- How much cooking time?
- 45 min — 10 min prep, 35 min cooking.