Hope everyone is gearing up for the Pongal celebration. My son was born on Pongal and it makes the day even special. It is a 3 day festival and as a kid I enjoyed the Bhogi part the most. I used to tell my grandma to wake me up early in the morning before they light the bonfire for throwing away the old stuff and I used to enjoy watching it. Then, for Kaanum Pongal we used to go to Marina Beach that is a famous beach in Chennai. It is sometimes sad that my kids don’t get to enjoy these little things 
.
.I made Sakkarai Pongal over the weekend just so I don’t have to deal with taking pictures on 14th. The recipe is from my mom. This time I did try with darkened jaggery, but it was still not dark enough 
. Oh well, it tasted great and we loved it. The normal Pongal menu at my house would be Ven Pongal, Sakkarai Pongal, Payasam, Methu vadai, Pacchadi, Sambar, Potato Fry and Rasam.
. Oh well, it tasted great and we loved it. The normal Pongal menu at my house would be Ven Pongal, Sakkarai Pongal, Payasam, Methu vadai, Pacchadi, Sambar, Potato Fry and Rasam.Pongal thickens a lot on cooling and you can see that from my picture. I poured it when it was the right consistency, but by the time I got around to taking the pictures it hardened. No worries, taste is still the same. Just warm it up if needed and we are good to go. Off to the recipe.
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw rice (I used sona masoori rice)
1.5 tbsp moong dal
1 cardamom pod
1 cup jaggery (use more for a sweeter version)
2 tsp ghee
Cashews and raisins
Method
Dry roast the moong dal until a nice aroma floats.
Take roasted moong dal, rice and cardamom pod in a vessel. Add water and pressure cook. (I used 2 cups of water).
Out of the pressure cooker. Mash it slightly and keep aside.
Add jaggery to 3/4 cup water.
Bring to a boil and turn it off.
In a vessel, heat ghee and roast the cashews and raisins.
Remove the cashews and raisins and add the cooked rice-dal to the remaining ghee.
Add the jaggery water. Mix.
Add the cashews and raisins.
Mix to combine.
Sakkarai Pongal ready.
Enjoy!
Let’s Cook – Rice by Radhika
 on https://cooksjoy.com/blog "Pin It")
