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.
People also search this as chakkara pongal, chakkarai pongal, sihi pongal.
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.