Sakarai Pongal

Here comes the trademark recipe for Pongal celebration. It doesn’t need anything to describe and no introduction needed. Though the recipe sounds to be a simple one, to get the exact taste is the biggest challenge. Say, the one you get from the temples differs from the one prepared at home. I tried making it several times, however sometimes it doesn’t turns good taste, but this time when I tried I got the best taste and we had a perfect pongal celebration as well.

Though at my home we never celebrated Pongal like how the Tamil people does, my Amma makes pongal at the early morning at the sunrise.. As it’s a day to worship the sun.The one I have presented here is the Temple version, the adding of milk makes the difference. I wish all my readers a very happy pongal :)
 

Ingredients:

• Raw Rice: 1 Cup
• Moong Dal- 4 Tspn
• Jaggery- 1 Cup
• Milk- 1/4 Cup
• Cardamom Powdered- 2 Tspn
• Cashews- few
• Raisins-Few
• Nutmeg Powder- a pinch
• Edible Camphor- a pinch (optional)
• Ghee- 5 Tspn

Method:

• In a pan, add ¼ tspn of ghee , add the moong dal and fry it till golden brown.
• Pressure cook the dal and the rice for 4 whistles along with 3 cups of water and keep aside.
• Add the powdered cardamom,nutmeg powder and mix well with a ladle.
• With medium flame melt the jaggery with little water and make a syrup out of it and keep it separate.
• Pour the jaggery syrup to the rice and mix well
• In a separate pan add ghee roast the cashews,raisins and pour it to the rice and give a stir.

 

Tips:

"Jaggery syrup is not needed to be very thick; if you keep it in the medium flame for 10 minutes will be fine.

Adding milk is optional, however it’s the secret to get the temple version’s pongal :)"