Sakkarai Pongal

Sakkarai pongal (Sweet Pongal) is a traditional dish prepared for the Pongal festival.The rice with moong dhal is cooked in milk and jaggery and garnished with roasted cashews.

Ingredients:

Raw rice	1 cup
Moong dhal	2-3 tblsp
Jaggery(see note below)	1½ cups
Milk	1 ½ cups
Ghee	3 tblsp
Nutmeg powder(Jadhikkai)	a generous pinch
Cardamom powder	½ tsp
Cashewnut	As needed

Method:

• Roast moong dhal in a pan till you get a nice aroma.
• Rinse rice well,add the moong dhal,milk and 2 1/2 cups water and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles.
• Take the jaggery in a pan and add little water and dissolve it well.Filter it once to remove any impurities.
• Once the rice is cooked,mash it well with a ladle and keep aside.
• Now take the jaggery syrup in a pan and let it boil for 4-5 mins in medium flame.Add the cooked rice,mix well and cook in low flame for few minutes till rice is mixed well with the jaggery.Fry the cashews,nutmeg powder in ghee and add it to the pongal.
• Finally add ghee,cardamom powder and cook for few minutes.Sakkarai Pongal is ready to serve.

Note:

• I made the jaggery syrup in the traditional Vengala Paanai and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.you can do it in a regular pan itself.
• Add jaggery according to the quality/variety you are using.You need 1 cup of jaggery for 1 cup raw rice,but I prefer to add little extra.Also the colour of the Pongal depends on the colour of the jaggery used.
• If you find the pongal too thick after adding rice to jaggery syrup,add little water to get desired consistency.