Temple Style Sweet Pongal Recipe Sakkarai Pongal Chakkara Pongal

About the recipe

Sweet Pongal is a traditional dish offered in most temples to god in the form of naivedyam along with puliyogare and then distributed as prasad or prasadam to devotees. Sakkarai Pongal is prepared on special days. For example, during Makara Sankranti or Pongal festival to celebrate the harvest, chakkara pongal is prepared using freshly harvested rice. During the celebration of Navratri, sweet pongal is prepared as this dish has goddess Durga’s or goddess Lakshmi’s favorite ingredients. This dish is also prepared on specific days at temples - i.e., Friday and Saturday at Lakshmi temples and on Saturdays at Balaji temples. Sweet Pongal is also called as sweet khichdi in konkani, sakkarai pongal in Tamil, chakkara pongal in Telugu. To get the authentic temple prasadam taste, you will have to use the amount of ghee mentioned in the recipe. Ghee plays a very important role, but if you want to make a light and healthier khichdi, then cut down on the amount of ghee as per your liking.

Ingredients

1 cup Rice400 grams Jaggery100 grams Ghee1 teaspoon Cardamom powder For Garnish1 tablespoon Ghee¼ cup Cashews2 tablespoon Raisins

How to make Temple-style Sweet Pongal or Rice Payasam at home?

Nicely wash and drain the rice. Keep this aside. You can use regular rice that you use for cooking. Add water (around 4 cups) to a pot and bring it to a boil on a medium-high flame. Add the washed and drained rice and cook on medium heat until it becomes soft. After the rice has cooked, drain all the excess water. For me, the cooking time was around 15 mins. In a pan, add ¼ cup of water and cooked rice, and mix. To this, add jaggery and ghee and continue to cook on medium flame until jaggery melts and everything is well combined, maybe for 10 to 12 minutes. Check out the video here. Add the cardamom powder and mix, and continue to cook for 5 mins. In another pan on medium heat, add a tablespoon of ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add cashews and saute until it becomes light golden in color. Next, add raisins and saute for a few seconds. Switch off the flame. Add this to the Sweet Pongal and mix. Switch off the flame. Serve it warm as an after-meal dessert.

Variations

You can pressure cook ¼ cup of moong dal or ¼ cup of chana dal, or ¼ cup of green gram instead of making it only with rice if desired. You can use sugar instead of jaggery. In this case, the taste and color will be different.

More Prasadam, Naivedyam Recipes

Nei Payasam Puliyogare / Puliyodharai Jaggery Rice Sheera Lemon Rice Moong Dal Khichdi

Instant Pot Sweet Pongal Recipe

Press the SAUTE button of your instant pot. Add 1 tablespoon of ghee to your steel insert. Now add cashews and saute until light golden in color. Press CANCEL and then add raisins and saute. This is done so that raisins won’t burn. Transfer this to the plate. Add the washed rice and 3 cups of water and pressure cook on HIGH for 10 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. Open the lid, turn on the SAUTE mode, add jaggery with ¼ cup of water, ghee, and cardamom powder and stir until jaggery dissolves completely. Just cook until all the ingredients blend. Press CANCEL, garnish with roasted nuts, and mix. Note - this pongal thickens as it cools down. Adjust the consistency by adding hot water before serving if desired.

Storage

Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days. To reheat, add hot water to adjust the consistency of the sweet pongal and then heat on the stovetop or in a microwave until warm.