Sweet Pongal

The Pongal festival is connected to the harvest season in the South of India. Sweet Pongal is one of the dishes made down South during the festival.

Ingredients

Cow’s milk.

Traditional vessel for boiling milk.

Raw turmeric stick.

Limestone paste.

Chunks of jaggery.

Rice.

Channa dal.

Dry grapes.

Almonds.

Walnuts.

Cashew nuts.

Cardamom powder.

Cloves.

Ghee.

Ripe banana pieces.

Chickoo pieces.

Fresh black and green grapes.

Roasted peanuts.

Roasted white sesame.

Proportions of the ingredients vary according to the individual taste and the tradition of every family.

Method For Sweet Pongal

Each family has a separate traditional vessel for making pongal. Girls’ birth family gift these vessels during their marriage. Apply limestone paste on the vessel or the mud pot. Decorate the vessel or the mud pot with a raw turmeric stick tied by a thread around its neck. Boil the milk in the vessel and let it flow over the edge of the pot. Drop chunks of jaggery into the milk. Rice and channa dal can be dropped into it or poured after cooking separately in a cooker. Roast dry grapes, almonds, walnuts, cashew nuts, cardamom powder, cloves (entire or crushed), separately, in ghee and mix it with the milk preparation. Some people also mix ripe banana pieces, chickoo pieces, fresh black and green grapes, roasted peanuts and roasted white sesame with the pongal.