Shrawan Masa Friday Special:

Sweet Pongal / Sakkarai Pongal / Chakkara Pongal / Chakkari Pongal

Chakkari Pongal is a very popular sweet rice from South India, which is also popular in Srilanka and Thailand especially in the Tamil communities. There are other names also for sweet Pongal in South India and it is also known as Huggi in Kannada or Karnataka. The dish is specifically made in January month in Sankranti / Pongal festival time with moong dal, jaggery, and rice.

Chakkara Pongal

Ingredients:

• For Frying Dry Fruits:

Ghee – 2 tsp, Whole Cashew / Kaju – 10 , Raisins / Kishmish – 2 tbsp   Clove / Lavang – 1

• Rice – Dal Cooking:

Water – 2¼ Cup, Rice, Soaked 15 Minutes – ½ Cup , Moong Dal, Soaked 15 Minutes – ¼ Cup

• For Jaggery Water: 

Jaggery, Gud – ¾ Cup, Water – ¼ Cup

• Other Ingredients:

Extra Water, Consistency Adjustment – ¼ Cup, Ghee – 2 tbsp, Cardamom Powder / Elachi Powder – ¼ tsp, Edible Camphor / Pacha Karpooram – Small Piece

Recipe:

First, in a pressure cooker take ½ cup rice and ¼ cup moong dal /both soak for 15 minutes, add in 2¼ cup water and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles, please sure it should be cooked till soft.

Now turn to add jaggery, but don’t add directly, it can spoil your rice. First, melt it and then filter melted jaggery to separate dirt from jaggery. So take a pan to add ¾ cup jaggery and ¼ cup water. keep stirring otherwise jaggery can caramelize, So, Keep stirring till the jaggery melts completely. Now filter the jaggery water into the cooked rice-dal mixture. Add ¼ cup of water or more to adjust the consistency as required. Cook on simmer flame for 2 min. till jaggery combines well with dal –  rice mix. Now add 2 tbsp ghee and keep stirring till the sakkarai Pongal turns glossy.

Now in a small pan add 2 tsp ghee and fry whole cashews, raisins, and clove. Pour the fried cashews, raisins, and clove into sweet Pongal now the time to add flavor so, add cardamom powder and small piece edible camphor. Mix all well.

So, finally we are ready to offer, sweet Pongal / sakkarai Pongal to the goddess, and serve hot to celebrate Shrawan Masa’s  best Friday.