The second dish I made for Sankranthi is this ‘Sweet Pongal/ Bellam Pongali‘. This recipe is from Chandra Padmanabhan’s Dakshin cookbook. Pongal, both sweet or savory, are traditionally made for Sankranthi.
My mom makes Chakkara pongali with a combination of jaggery and sugar, but this recipe uses all jaggery. The addition of cardamom, cloves and nutmeg makes this taste just like the ones served in the temples.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Green gram dal Moong dal / Pesarapappu/ Moong
- ½ cup Rice
- ½ cup Milk
- 1 ~ 1½ cups Jaggery - powdered (adjust as per taste)
- 1 tbsp Cashews
- 1 tbsp Raisins
- 1 tsp cardamom Ground
- ¼ tsp Cloves Ground
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg Ground
- a few strands Saffron
Servings: serving
Instructions
- Dry roast the green gram dal for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
- Wash rice and dal together and place them in a pressure cooker along with 1¼cups of water and the milk. Cook without the whistle for 20~30 minutes on medium flame till rice and dal are tender. Pressure cooking with whistle might cause the milk to boil over, so pressure cook without the whistle.
- Melt jaggery in ¼cup of water and simmer for a few minutes till the syrup thickens a little bit. Pour the syrup to cooked rice and dal. Simmer for a few minutes on medium-low flame. Turn off the heat.
- Heat 2tbsp ghee in a small pan, add the cashews and raisins and fry till golden. Add this to the pongal.
- Finally add the ground cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and saffron. Mix well and serve!!
Recipe Notes
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Oh yum yum!!! i always make it in open pan and make the our savory pongal in cooker!!! Beautiful clicks and i love that spice box, cute!!
Pavani, the caramelized texture of your jaggary looks amazing..I always like my bellam pongali like this..your spice box is so cute!