Sakkarai pongal
Preparation Time
10 minutes
Cooking Time
40 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Dessert
Serves 6
Key Ingredients
- Sona masoori rice
About This Recipe
Pongal is both a harvest festival and the pot of rice made for it. The savoury ven pongal and the sweet sakkarai pongal are cooked on the same morning: rice and moong dal boiled together with milk and water, then one pot is salted and peppered and the other sweetened with jaggery. This recipe is the sweet pot, the prasadam served in temple courtyards and on Pongal day.
The ratio that matters is rice to moong dal, one cup to a quarter cup, and the grain that suits it is sona masoori, which cooks soft and breaks down when mashed. The jaggery goes in as a syrup rather than as pieces, so it spreads through the pot instead of pooling. For more on the grain, see our guide to rice (chawal).
The texture should be loose when it comes off the stove, soft enough to eat with a spoon and glossy with ghee; it firms up as it cools. Reduce the jaggery to 200 g for a less sweet pot, or cook the rice and dal in half milk and half water for a richer one. The savoury counterpart is the ven pongal, and both keep up to two days in the fridge.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Pongal
- Sona masoori rice — 1 cup
- Green moong split (moong dal) — 1/4 cup
- Water — 5 cups
- Salt — 1 pinch
Jaggery syrup
- Jaggery powder — 300 g
- Water for the syrup — 1/2 cup
Finish
- Ghee (1 tbsp for the tempering, the rest stirred in at the end) — 4 tbsp
- Cashews, split — 2 tbsp
- Raisins — 2 tbsp
- Cardamom Powder — 1/4 tsp
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Serving Suggestions
Serve hot in small bowls or on a banana leaf, with a spoon of the reserved ghee on top. It is eaten as prasad after the morning pooja and also works as a warm dessert after a light dinner. A cup of filter coffee afterwards is the Tamil Nadu finish, and a rice payasam is the milkier alternative for the same table.
Tips for Cooking Sakkarai pongal
Mash the rice and dal against the side of the cooker before the syrup goes in; that is what gives pongal its creamy body. Simmer the jaggery syrup for two to three minutes so it thickens slightly, and stir the pot continuously for the first minute after it goes in, or the syrup settles at the bottom. The ghee goes in last, after the heat is off, so it stays glossy on the surface.
Chef’s Note
Use jaggery powder so the syrup needs no straining, and keep a cup of hot water at hand; pongal stiffens fast as it cools and a splash brings it back. A serving comes to about 413 kcal and 5.6 g of protein, with 1.7 g of fibre; the cashews, raisins and any milk used in the pot are not in these numbers.
Per serving (approx.): 413 kcal, protein 5.6 g, carbs 73 g, fat 10 g, fibre 1.7 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Apr 15, 2026
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