Sharkarai pongal

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In January, most of us start preparing for Pongal or Makar sankranthi. The preparatory work for Pongal starts differently in different houses. Mine starts with cleaning the pot. It’s time for that vengala panai (bronze pot to come out of hiding and shine). Then comes the search for the right color of cane sugar or sharkarai and so on. Without much thought, these are the preparations for the upcoming Pongal festival. The seasonal dish of the season is the sharkarai pongal. I share with you my precious recipe for this season.

What is sharkaraipongal?

Sharkarai pongal or sharkara pongal, prepared for festive occasions, is a sweet dish that resembles a soft-boiled pudding. This is a gluten-free dish as it uses rice and green gram as the main ingredients. This is sweetened with jaggery or unrefined sugar cane solids and well rounded with sufficient ghee or clarified butter. Aromatics such as saffron, cardamom or nutmeg are used.

On what occasions do we make sweet pongal?

Sweet pongal is a must-do if you are planning to celebrate the Pongal festival. However, the dish is also made during Ganesh Chaturthi, Navaratri and Ugadi. We used to get sharkara pongal for our birthdays because the cake was not the norm.

Which rice is suitable for sharkarai pongal?

Short grain raw rice is preferred for making this sweet Pongal. However, no glutinous rice. Usually ponni raw rice, Sona masoori, Poongar, Jeeraka sambha or Sri Lankan raw red rice are good to make sharkarai pongal. The newer rice cooks softer than the old varieties. If you choose colored rice for the sweet pongal, the final color will be slightly darker, for example black rice or red rice.

Ingredients for sharkarapongal

Rice
Moong dal
Cane sugar
Ghee
Aromatics – cardamom and nutmeg

Let’s make sweet pongal

Roasting the moong dal: The moong dal is lightly roasted in a dry pan or in saute mode in the Instant Pot.

Cook the rice and dal: The first step in making the sweet pongal is to cook the rice and moong dal together. This should be cooked until soft. After washing and draining the rice and dal mixture, place it in a pan of boiling water or set it to pressure cooking. Add excess water so that the water is absorbed well and the pongal becomes tasty. Once the pressure cooking is complete, allow the pressure to release naturally. Then stir the rice dal mixture and mash it slightly.

Melt the cane sugar: Jaggery is the sweetener used in this pongal. However, since the jaggery has not been purified, it will contain some impurities that can be removed by melting and pressing. Soak the jaggery in water and bring the syrup to a boil while it melts. This will cause the foam to float in the jaggery and also sink the sand particles. Once boiled, remove the foam that floats and then strain with a metal fine sieve to remove the sand. Unlike aval pori, you don’t need to thicken the jaggery syrup, so I use a 1:1 measure of water to make the jaggery. Strain this liquid and set aside.

To make the sweet pongal: Once the rice dal mix is ​​cooked and the pressure is released naturally, mix the hot soft rice well and strain the jaggery syrup. Mix well and place on slow cooker to slowly bring to the boil. Keep stirring, don’t miss it as it will quickly stick to the bottom.

Adding the aromatics: Add ground cardamom and a small pinch of camphor to the bubbling mixture. Stir well, remove from heat and store covered.

Tempering the pongal: Add ghee to a small pan and some ground cashews and raisins. Roast them in the ghee until the raisins are plump. Pour this mixture with the ghee into the prepared sharkarai pongal. Mix well and the Pongal is ready to be served.

Serving the sharkara pongal

Sharkara Pongal served in a donnai or banana leaf evokes the best temple feeling. There is no need to add anything to the recipe for dessert. For the festival times, venpongal is made as a savory dish and sweet pongal as a dessert. You can serve sweet pongal on a South Indian thali instead of payasam or for a banana leaf sadhya.

Other sweet pongals

Palm molasses pongal
Kalkandu pongal
Millet bellam pongali

Stay connected

Sharkarai pongal or sweet pongal is a delicious traditional recipe that you must try at least once. This rustic sweet dessert is an emotion you won’t be able to shake once you try it. If you make it with our recipe, tag us and let us know. We would like to join you in celebrating.
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