5 Easy Recipes for Pongal Sweets to Satisfy a Serious Sugar Craving

Pongal is a thanksgiving festival, celebratedin South India, in which the locals offer traditional food to the Sun God and show gratitude for the first harvest. Tamilians relish mouthwatering delicacies during this four-day-long festival! Pongal is all about milk, fresh rice and coconut, which are the essential constituentsof an extensive range of meals.

Here are a few scrumptious dishes and easy ways to prepare a bowlful at home.

1.      Sakkarai Pongal

Sakkarai Pongal is a soft and wholesome dessert, popular among children and adults for its distinct taste. This is a typical Pongal sweet that doesn’t take more than 30 minutes to prepare. The ingredients required are rice, green gram, moong daal, jaggery, nuts and raisins, camphor, cardamom powder, sugar and sliced or chopped coconuts. Make sure you add the right quantity to avoid making it bitter.

2.      Payasam

Loaded with dry fruits with a hint of saffron and elaichi, Payasam is a traditional sweet kheer recipe of Pongal. Typically made with jaggery, rice and milk, it has a signature taste that remains the same, regardless of which Indian state it is being prepared in. It takes about 30-40 minutes to cook a warm and delicious bowl of payasam.

3.     PuranPoli

This is a nutritious sweet dish that takes about 25 minutes to prepare. It is easyto prepare and is made of flat bread stuffed with daal and sugar. The basic ingredients required are dough, ghee, grated nutmeg, chanadaal, cardamom powder and water. PuranPoli is best served hot, with a decent amount of ghee poured over it.

4.     RavaKesari

A soft and delightful sweet, Kesari is tasty and one of the simplest dishes cooked during Pongal. Typically had after breakfast, It is prepared from with ghee, suji, nuts and sugar. Make sure you use the right quantity of ghee, otherwise it might turn sticky and ruin the dish altogether. It only takes about 15 minutes to prepare this dish.

5.     Teel Barfi

Lovingly called Tilkut Barfi or Til Gur Barfi, this is popular among children. It is nutritious and loaded with iron. You will need sesame seeds, jaggery, ghee, chopped almonds and green cardamom to prepare this sweet. You can cut different shapes and sizes to make it attractive for the young ones in the house. Store them in air tight jars to keep moisture away.

Although Pongal 2020 is over, you can fall back on these mouthwatering delicacies anytime to satiate your sweet tooth.