Sweet Pongal Recipe:Easy to cook at home

Today is my favorite festival, and I prepared sweet Pongal—a traditional dessert from Tamil Nadu made with rice and jaggery. From cashews to cardamom, the combination of rice and jaggery makes the preparation of sweet Pongal too tempting to resist.

As the name suggests, the Pongal festival is celebrated by preparing Pongal (a sweet dish) at home. It marks the significance of the harvest season and is dedicated to worshipping the Sun God. Sweet Pongal is made with freshly harvested rice, ghee, jaggery, cashew nuts, and more.

Sweet Pongal, also known as Sakkarai Pongal or Chakkara Pongal, is prepared in every home across Tamil Nadu during the Pongal festival.

Here is how I prepared the sweet pongal

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 200 grams

Jaggery- 400 grams

Water - 2 cups

Milk - 1 cup

Elachi - 5 pieces

Cashew - 10-15

Ghee - 100 ml

Saffron ½ gram

The method of preparation

Take a thick-bottomed pan and boil water.
Add washed raw rice to the boiling water.
Allow it to cook and then add 1 cup of milk.
Keep stirring to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Once the rice is cooked, add broken jaggery pieces.
Stir continuously until the jaggery melts and blends well.
Add a pinch of cardamom powder (elaichi) and stir for 20 minutes.
Fry cashew nuts in ghee and add them to the mixture along with a few saffron strands.
Keep stirring for 10 more minutes and add enough ghee.

Delicious sweet Pongal is ready to serve!

Comments

June 15: The Day I Buried My Mother and Met My Daughter

Eleven years ago, on this very day, our family grieved all over again. My mother passed away on May 8, 2015. While the initial rituals were completed within a few days, one final responsibility remained. Since she had been cremated, we decided to take her ashes to our ancestral graveyard, where my great-grandparents and grandparents were buried. On June 15, 2015, we laid her ashes to rest. Along with them went her favorite sarees, her notebook, the pen she always carried, and several belongings that had been a part of her daily life. As we buried those ashes, it felt as though we were saying goodbye to her all over again. Her ashes were the last tangible reminder we had of her, and letting go was not easy. Six years later, in 2021, I was pregnant with my daughter. My due date was June 7, 2021, but God had a different plan. Days passed, and there were no signs of labor. We waited and waited. By June 13, I had crossed 40 weeks, and labor was induced without much success. On the night of ...

FRIENDSHIP

25-March-2010 We all have friends at all stages of our lives. But how many of us keep in touch with them forever??? I always wondered why 99% of friendships break at every stage. I was very close with one of my friends in the 5th class. We used to say we’d never be separated. But now, I don’t even know where she is… Then came my 10th-class friend. We were like flesh and nail—we wore the same dress, ate together, and hung out everywhere. But now she is far away from me. We talk only twice a year—once on her birthday and once on mine. And then, my college friends. Not just one, but 13 of them. Very close to me. We ruled the class! Everyone was jealous of our friendship. But how long would it last??? It was nice to hear my friends say that we’d meet once a year and have fun. But practically… is it possible? Friendship is like a train. It starts at the source station and ends at the destination. It stops at every station along the way. Friends are like passengers—they board the train of fr...

Tomorrow, My Morning Coffee Will Taste Different

It’s been three weeks since we moved to Vadodara. Every morning since, I’ve unknowingly built a quiet ritual—coffee in hand, eyes on the sky, watching planes take off from Vadodara Airport, which I can see clearly from our balcony. There's something calming about it. Hopeful, even. A small moment of stillness as the world begins to move. But today… today was not like the other days. Around noon, news broke about the Air India crash at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport, Ahmedabad. And everything I felt in those quiet, breezy mornings shattered into something heavier, more fragile. It’s strange how suddenly a routine can take on new meaning and how quickly something comforting can start to feel ominous. My husband used to be a frequent flyer to Ahmedabad in the months before we settled down here. I was right there at that same airport with my dad and daughter, barely three weeks ago. I still remember my first visit to Ahmedabad and I wasn’t particularly excited. It felt temporary. ...

Maithily's Scribblings

Search This Blog