Sweet rice Pongal is a popular South Indian dish made with rice, jaggery (unrefined cane sugar), and lentils. It is typically prepared during festivals and special occasions. The dish is cooked by boiling rice and lentils together until they become soft and mushy. Jaggery is then added to sweeten the Pongal, along with ghee (clarified butter), cardamom, and cashew nuts for added flavor and texture. The resulting dish is creamy and sweet, served as a dessert or breakfast item.
Sweet Rice Pongal
5
servings5
minutes20
minutesLearn how to make sweet rice pongal, a delicious South Indian dish made with rice, lentils, jaggery, and spices. Perfect for festivals and special occasions!
Ingredients
Raw Rice – 1 cup
Jaggery – 2 cups
Ghee – 2 to 3 tablespoons
Cashew Nuts – few
Raisins – few
Cardamom powder – Half teaspoon
Directions
- Wash the rice, add three cups of water and pressure cook for five to six whistles.
- Put jaggery in a heavy bottomed vessel, add half cup water and bring to boil. When it starts boiling, remove from stove and strain it so that any mud and dust will be removed.
- Now open the pressure cooker and mash the rice with a ladle. Add the jaggery syrup to the rice and mix well. Keep it on the stove and stir continuously on medium flame till both rice and jaggery syrup mix well. Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in a spoon of ghee and add to the rice mixture. Add remaining ghee and cardamom powder and mix thoroughly. Remove from stove.
- Tips:
- You can add one cup milk (milk 1 cup + water 2 cups) along with water while cooking rice. If you want less sweet, then you can reduce the jaggery to one or one and half cup.
- Also you can add one to two tablespoons of moong dhal (dry fry till light brown) along with rice and pressure cook and proceed as above.
Hi,
The tips given here are very very useful. Good. Keep going.
Sowmya. N
Thank you for visiting my site Sowmya.
What kind of rice do you have to use? Thanks
Hi Suganya,
You can use any kind of raw rice (Called "Pacha Arisi" in Tamil). Whatever rice you are using for daily cooking can be used for this Pongal. You can also use Basmathi rice. However, the flavour of basmathi rice dominate and you will get different taste.,
I tried this one ,so nice.
recently I tried this, very very tasty.Thank you.
hi kamala thanx for the sweet pongal receipe. It was very yummy.
Thank you Maya.
chanceless…………super…….
Dear Kamala Akka,
Pongal Receipe Very Very useful. Good Akka.
Keep it up.
Wish you Happy Pongal
Wish you a very happy pongal. Thanks for your sincere updates.
All your kolam n receipies are wonderful. For people like me beginner its really good. Last time I made pongal it bcame stiky and hard after sometime. Pl tell me y.
Thanks n keep up the good work.
Happy pongal. Regards banumathi
Hi Banumathi,
Reason for pongal became sticky may be due to the quality of rice used or the jaggery is overboiled. Normally for Pongal, we used to cook in pot where we put rice+milk+water and cook the rice rill soft and afterwards add jaggery powdered and just mix it for few minutes so that it will blend with the cooked rice. After adding jaggery, we should not keep it in the stove for long time. If you keep it for long time, jaggery starts to become a thick “Baghu” (syrup) and binds the cooked rice grains and it will become hard and sticky.
If you are going to try my above cooker method, then follow the above procedure and just allow the jaggery melts in the water and immediately strain and add it to the cooked rice. Keep it on low flame and mix it well.
All the best for your Pongal Making and I wish you and your family a Very Happy Pongal.
All tips are very useful .good
wow!
I just prepared pongal.
It’s awesome.
for a better nutritive value,
can we put moong dal along with rice?
If yes in what proportion?
Thanks a lot
Yes. You can add moong dal. For 1 cup of rice, 1/4 cup moong dal is right proportion.
Pongal namaskarangal maami.Pongal nal vazhthukkal.Indha karthihai+markazhi maasam muzhuvadhum ungal kolangal poettu asaththi flat la ellartayum paaraattu vaangittaein.credit goes to you.I have taken photos in my mobile.I want to mail them to you,if you permit.Thank you and love you maami
Hi Meenakshi Rajeev,
Thank you very much for your kind words and the feedback. You are most welcome to send the kolam photos. You can send it to [email protected]. In fact I have already posted a kolam picture drawn by one of the readers in my blog. I want to publish your kolam photo also in my blog with due reference to your name.
Dear kamala,
I used the other method you mentioned above. It was wonderful. My son who is 2 and half really enjoyed. Thanks
Pongal nalvalthukal
Arthy
Thank you Arthy for the feed back. Wishing you and your family a very Happy Pongal.
Very useful tips & AWESOME kolams!!! 🙂 Keep Posting!!
Wish you & your family a very Happy and Prosperous Pongal!! 🙂
Thank you Sujatha. Advance Pongal wishes to you and your family too.
hi mam,happy pongal
Thank you Rajee George. Wishing you and your family a very Happy Pongal.
I am a learner and all your receipts are nice mam. I learnt many from this only. Thanku
Thank you Barati for your kind comments.
Am amazed with all ur recipes dear mam… It’s a very very useful page for someone like me who has never been into kitchen before wedding and struggles after that troubling mom for every other thing. Karaikuzhambu is one of my favourites, while searching for that recipe, I landed on to ur page. It’s such a boon to have such blogs. You rock and keep rocking. I wish u all success. God bless
Hi Rita,
Thank you for your kind words. Encouraging comments from readers like you only make this site going on.
Iniya Pongal Nal Vazhthukkal. Thank u for ur wonderful recepes n suggestions
I prepared this pongal but it was watery and did not thicken even after two hours. Where did i go wrong, please suggest
Ma’am,
Your recipe’s are really very nice.Thank you so much..i tried many from your blog..all came very well. today am going to try this sweet pongal..
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