SWEET PONGAL

SWEET PONGAL

Pongal is a popular rice porridge dish based in South India. Pongal is unique to South Indian cuisine, but many others widely consume it as a commonly known Indian dish Khichdi. There are two varieties of pongal, namely Sakarai pongal (Sweet Pongal) and Ven pongal (spicy pongal). The word pongal usually refers to the spicy Pongal and is a common breakfast food in several parts of India.

Every January, Tamilians celebrate Pongal, a harvest festival. The name itself is derived from the fact that Pongal (the dish) is cooked in the morning and offered to the gods, thanking them for the harvest

Harvest festival Pongal or Sankranthi is all about celebrating rice in our part of world. Particularly in South India, rice plays an important role as the main cultivated grain and as nourishing food that people subsist on every day of their life. It’s no wonder that there is a festival dedicated to the almighty rice. Equally worshipped are the man’s best partner, the kind-hearted cow, and the elements – sun, earth and water. They make rice cultivation a success, and also add a magic touch to the rice, turning it into a cherished food.

“Sakarai Pongal” is a popular dish made for Tamil Nadu’s most popular festival “PONGAL” (celebrated as Mahar Shankranthi in the North India).Its main ingredient is jaggery rich in Iron and therefore is a healthy but heavy food. It exists from the 17th century as PONGAL is a farmer’s festival.

Recipe: Sweet Pongal

Summary: a dessert made of rice

Ingredients

• 2 – tbsp – cashew,pista,almonds
• 0 – coconut pieces
• 1 – cup – jaggery
• 3 – cup – milk
• 1/2 – cup – moong dal
• 1 – pinch – pepper
• 1 – tbsp- raisins
• 1 – cup – rice
• 1 -pinch – safron
• 4 – cup – water

Instructions

1. wash and boil rice and moong dal with 4 cups of water when the rice is almost cooked add milk and cook till rice is mashyadd sauted nuts and add jaggery and cook till nice pudding consistency

   add chopped coconut and safron

Cooking time (duration): 25

Diet type: Vegetarian

Number of servings (yield): 4

Meal type: breakfast

My rating: 4 stars:  ★★★★☆ 1 review(s)

Sakarai Pongal is a sweet and buttery porridge-like dish that is traditionally prepared in South India for the Makar Sankranti festival that heralds the arrival of summer. Sakarai pongal is generally prepared in temples as a prasad, i.e, offering to God. This type of pongal is also prepared during the Pongal festival (similar to Thai Pongal) in South India

Sakarai means sugar in the Tamil language. It tastes sweet and contains ingredients like rice, sugar/jaggery, coconut pieces or moong daal. The sweetening agent in sakarai is traditionally jaggery, but sometimes candy sugar can be added. This makes a white looking pongal, but adding jaggery makes a darker brown coloured pongal.

This famous south Indian, Sankranthi sweet is traditionally made with freshly harvested rice. Very simple to make but spectacular in taste, the ordinary rice becomes mouth watering extraordinary sweet pongal. The rice soaks up the milk, absorbs the jaggery, picks up the cardamom scent and takes up the generously added moong dal, cashews and golden raisins. And this becomes an offering to the Gods and also simply irresistible to all who try it. This sweet pongal is specially in cooked on a new earthern pot with wood fire.

As per the traditional recipe its always best that Sweet Pongal is cooked with Jaggery and not sugar. As Jaggery or “Gur” or whole sugar is a pure, wholesome, traditional, unrefined, whole sugar. It contains the natural goodness of minerals and vitamins inherently present in sugarcane juice & this crowns it as one of the most wholesome and healthy sugars in the world. Jaggery is very rich in iron, which, a composite of hemoglobin prevents anemia.

Sweet pongal is like a rice-dal porridge, consistency must be gooey thick and sticky. That means, the amount of liquid I usually add for sweet pongal recipe is more than the amount that I normally add to cook plain rice of equal measurements. Also, I always use equal amounts of water and milk for this recipe. Variations are – you can cook the rice-dal entirely in milk or in coconut milk, or if you are lactose intolerant and diet conscious, then in just plain water. Just add more liquid compared to the regular rice preparation.

Sweet Pongal is one of the popular dishes that mark their presence on Pongal. The dish sweetens the celebration and sets on the festive mood. Pongal is an occasion to indulge in celebrations and merry making. If you want to celebrate it along with delicious food, then just have a look recipe of sweet Pongal given below, detailing the ingredients as well as the method of preparation for it.