Sakkarai Pongal or the Sweet Jaggery rice is a traditional South Indian dish prepared with rice, moong dal, jaggery, and milk. It’s a popular neivediyam/prasadam meaning offering to God, and it is made often for various festivals in South India. Let me now share how to make this dish in the stove-top pressure cooker with minimal effort.
Pongal – The Indian Harvest Festival:
The word pongal refers to two things. It refers to the Indian harvest festival pongal and also the dish pongal. Sakkarai pongal is the sweet jaggery rice, and that’s what I am sharing today, and the savory one is the ven pongal.
I am not sure if the dish got its name after the festival as the pongal festival meal is incomplete without sakkarai pongal.
Pongal – the three-day harvest festival is one of the famous festivals of Tamil Nadu. In other places, people celebrate it with different names like Makar Sankranti, Maghi, and many other names.
Sakkarai Ponga | Chakkarai Pongal:
These days we use the term sakkarai for sugar. But it means nattu sakkarai, which is the jaggery, and that’s what we use to sweeten this dish.
During the pongal festival – this dish is made with freshly harvested rice, aka new rice, moong dal, milk, jaggery, and offered to Sun God. The pongal feast always consists of dishes with the freshly harvest seasonal veggies and this sweet pongal.
Traditionally it is made in an open-pot method where they let the milk boil and then add the rice and the dal. That’s how my mom made it too. And when the milk boils, we all sing “pongal o pongal.” Nostalgic memories.
Most of the families have the heirloom pot called pongal paani in which they make the pongal. They decorate the vessel with sandal, kumkum, and tie turmeric and flowers around the pot. And then make the pongal.
Sweet Pongal as Neivediyam:
Sweet pongal is not only prepared during the pongal festival, but we also make it for several other festivals like Adi Perukku and especially during the Navratri time.
Pressure Cooker Sakkarai Pongal:
I miss traditionally celebrating the festivals in the US. It’s hard to take time off for all the festivals. We do celebrate all the festivals, and also I try to make all the traditional dishes, and I take short cuts for doing them as well.
Making sakkarai pongal in a pressure cooker is one such short cut. :-) I won’t say making chakkarai pongal in the open-pot method is difficult. But it does take some time and also it needs some supervision. But that’s not the case with the pressure cooker method. I can easily make it before going to work.
Instant Pot Method: You can make this in Instant Pot also. In saute mode, roast the raisins and cashews and set aside. Then roast the moong dal too. Then pressure cook (high) it along with rice for up to 10 minutes and release the pressure naturally. Then mash the rice and set the IP in saute mode, but make sure to adjust the heat setting to low. Then add milk, jaggery, and follow the same procedure as mentioned below.
Roasting the Moong Dal For Sweet Pongal:
Most of the recipes that you find online don’t call for roasting the moong dal. Even if it does, most recipes call for roasting moong until it turns aromatic. But we personally like the taste of nicely roasted moong dal, so I roast it until it turns light golden brown. Don’t let it turn entirely brown, though.
You can roast the moong dal either over low heat for 30 to 45 seconds until it’s aromatic or roast it until it turns golden brown.
Roasting moong dal in ghee adds a sweet flavor, but I have tried it without roasting also. When time is pressing, I wash the dal and pressure cook it along with rice.
Now without any further ado, here is the sakkarai pongal recipe. I have given all the tips and tricks in the recipe steps and the notes. Please don’t miss any.
How to Make Sakkarai Pongal in Pressure Cooker?
- Heat the pressure pan and add 2 tsp of melted ghee. After about 20 seconds or so, add the cashews and raisins. When raisins bulge and cashews turn light brown, transfer it to a plate and set it aside.
- Now in the same pan, add 1 tsp of melted ghee and after 10 seconds, add the moong dal and roast it until it turns light brown. Check the post for moong dal roasting suggestions.
- Turn off the heat as soon as the moong dal turns light brown.
- Now add the washed rice and 2 cups of water.
- Pressure cook this for up to 4 whistles. Turn off the heat and let the pressure subside and then open the lid.
- Mash the rice and lentils well.
- Now add the milk, 1 tbsp of ghee, powdered jaggery, crushed cardamoms, and edible camphor. (No need to turn the heat on)
- Mix thoroughly and cook the pongal over medium lot (on a number scale of 10 around 3) heat for about 4 minutes. Make sure the mix the pongal every one minute also while mixing scrape the bottom and sides.
- At this stage, add one more tbsp of ghee and cook for another one to two minutes and then turn off the heat. Again, mix frequently while the pongal is cooking. It will slowly thicken.
- Let it cool a bit and then add the roasted cashews and raisins. Mix well and serve warm!
Recipe Notes:
- I go with a 1:2 ratio of moong dal to rice. You can adjust the ratio according to your preference. 1:4 will work too.
- Roasting the moong dal is optional. You can skip that step and pressure cook along with the rice directly.
- The color of the sweet pongal depends upon the jaggery color. Also, adjust the jaggery according to your sweet preference.
- Edible camphor is optional, but it gives the temple pongal taste / kovil chakkarai pongal taste.
- You can also add grated nutmeg (¼ to ½ tsp) for this measure.
- Along with cashews and raisins, you can roast 1 tbsp fresh coconut pieces (1-inch) and add it to the pongal.
- Use ghee as desired. For this measure, you can add 3 to 4 tbsps of ghee. I used fresh homemade ghee for this pongal. I used the pressure cooker pan for making the ghee, and I transferred the ghee and used the same pot for making the pongal. You can see the bits of ghee residue in some of my pictures, especially while adding the cashews and raisins and roasting moong dal.
- The pongal will thicken as it cools down. If it’s too thick, add ½ to 1 cup of milk and reheat it before serving.
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📖 Recipe
Sakkarai Pongal | Chakkarai Pongal | Sweet Jaggery Rice | Sweet Pongal
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker | Stove-Top or Instant Pot
Ingredients
- ¼ cup yellow moong dal
- ½ cup rice washed and drained (raw rice like sona masoori or ponni)
- 2 cups of water
- 1 cup milk
- ¾ cup jaggery powdered
- ⅛ tsp edible camphor a pinch is sufficient
- 2 green cardamoms crushed
- 3 tbsp ghee melted. divided (1 tbsp + 1 tbsp + 2 tsp + 1 tsp) (see notes)
- 1 tbsp cashews
- 1 tbsp raisins
Instructions
- Heat the pressure pan and add 2 tsp of melted ghee. After about 20 seconds or so, add the cashews and raisins. When raisins bulge and cashews turn light brown, transfer it to a plate and set it aside.
- Now in the same pan, add 1 tsp of melted ghee and after 10 seconds, add the moong dal and roast it until it turns light brown. Check the post for moong dal roasting suggestions.
- Turn off the heat as soon as the moong dal turns light brown.
- Now add the washed rice and 2 cups of water.
- Pressure cook this for up to 4 whistles. Turn off the heat and let the pressure subside and then open the lid. Mash the rice and lentils well.
- Now add the milk, 1 tbsp of ghee, powdered jaggery, crushed cardamoms, and edible camphor. (No need to turn the heat on)
- Mix thoroughly and cook the pongal over medium lot (on a number scale of 10 around 3) heat for about 4 minutes. Make sure the mix the pongal every one minute also while mixing scrape the bottom and sides.
- At this stage, add one more tbsp of ghee and cook for another one to two minutes and then turn off the heat. Again, mix frequently while the pongal is cooking.
- Let it cool a bit and then add the roasted cashews and raisins. Mix well and serve warm!
Notes
- I go with a 1:2 ratio of moong dal to rice. You can adjust the ratio according to your preference. 1:4 will work too.
- Roasting the moong dal is optional. You can skip that step and pressure cook along with the rice directly.
- The color of the sweet pongal depends upon the jaggery color. Also, adjust the jaggery according to your sweet preference.
- Edible camphor is optional, but it gives the temple pongal taste / kovil chakkarai pongal taste.
- You can also add grated nutmeg (¼ to ½ tsp) for this measure.
- Along with cashews and raisins, you can roast 1 tbsp fresh coconut pieces (1-inch) and add it to the pongal.
- Use ghee as desired. For this measure, you can add 3 to 4 tbsps of ghee. I used fresh homemade ghee for this pongal. I used the pressure cooker pan for making the ghee, and I transferred the ghee and used the same pot for making the pongal. You can see the bits of ghee residue in some of my pictures, especially while adding the cashews and raisins and roasting moong dal.
- The pongal will thicken as it cools down. If it's too thick, add ½ to 1 cup of milk and reheat it before serving.
- Instant Pot Method: You can very make this in Instant Pot also. In saute mode, roast the raisins and cashews and set aside. Then roast the moong dal too. Then pressure cook (high) it along with rice for up to 10 minutes and release the pressure naturally. Then mash the rice and set the IP in saute mode, but make sure to adjust the heat setting to low. Then add milk, jaggery, and follow the same procedure as mentioned above.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Update Notes: Earlier posted this recipe in 2014. I have updated the recipe with new pictures.
Hi Vidhya – The ratio of rice to daal in the Recipe Notes seems to be reversed.
Thanks
Ravi
Sorry about that. Fixed it. Thanks a lot for pointing it out.
See the coincidence i have prepared sweet pongal today but without coconut n milk.. yours pongal looking delicious. Happy pongal
Oh wow.. very nice. Happy Pongal to you too. :-)