Ingredients

• 1/2 cup - raw rice
• 3 tbsp - moong dal/paasi paruppu
• 4 tbsp - ghee
• 1/2 cup - milk
• 6-8 - cashews
• 3/4 cup - 1 cup - jaggery
• 1 - cardamom
• 1 tsp - raisins (optional)
• 2 pinches - nutmeg powder (optional)
• 1 pinch -pachai karpooram/kacha karpoor/borneo-camphor (optional)
• 1.75 cups - water
• 2 pinches- salt

How to Make Sakkarai Pongal

• Heat the cooker and add a tsp of ghee and fry the moong dal directly. Fry for a minute.
• Add the washed rice, half of the milk, water and pressure cook over a medium flame for 4 whistles.
• Once the pressure is released, open and mix some more milk, just to mash and mix well.
• Powder the jaggery. If you think the jaggery is pure, wth no impurities, then you can add it to the pongal directly.
• But if there are impurities, then melt the jaggery with a little water and filter it and add the syrup to the pongal.
• Switch on the stove and keep on stirring on a low-medium flame.
• Pour ghee little by little and keep on stirring till pongal leaves the sides of the vessel. (approx 4-5 min)
• Add fried cashew, powdered cardamom and the other optional ingredients at the end, mix well and serve.
• Recipe courtesy: Rak's Kitchen