Monday, October 6, 2008

Ellu Sakkarai Pongal- Sweet Sesame Rice

Growing up I do not ever remember having any kind of sakkarai pongal with ellu (til) in it. Sakkarai pongal is a kind of a sweet rice that is sweetened with jaggery. When my mother in law mentioned this dish to me some time back I wondered how it would taste but put aside the idea of making it in favor of making savory sesame rice. In rice dishes I almost always favor making savory dishes rather than sweet ones. They are so easy to pair with a vegetable side dish to make a complete meal. This weekend though I had the opportunity to try this sweet rice and we liked it a lot.

The use of jaggery in this sweet also makes it a little more diet friendly for those that are avoiding sugar and watching calories.Jaggery is a type of sugar made out of sugarcane and is used a lot in Indian cooking. It is considered to be more wholesome than refined sugar since it retains more mineral salts.For a more detailed article on jaggery and the different names of jaggery check out this link.

Ellu Sakkarai Pongal photo 58a176e2-8f6a-483c-a1b3-783b24517bf8_zpsb44ddfa2.jpg


Click here for a printable view of this recipe 

Ingredients and method to make Ellu Sakkarai Pongal/ Sweet Sesame Rice.

1 and 1/2 cups of cooked rice (either brown or white) (I used brown)
6 tbsp brown sesame seeds (til/ ellu)
1 cup grated jaggery (see notes)
2 tsp clarified butter (ghee/ nei) 
5 cardamom seeds powdered fine

Optional garnish
1 tsp clarified butter/ghee/nei
1 tbsp broken pieces of cashew nuts (kaju) 

Pressure cook rice until soft. I used brown rice, so for about 1/2 cup of uncooked rice I used about 1 cup of water. If you are using white rice, cook as per manufacturers directions. Some kinds of white raw rice require about 1.5 cups for 1 cup of rice and some require 2-3 cups of water. Remove from heat. 

Dry roast brown sesame seeds until they turn a little more brown and keep aside. When cooler grind the sesame seeds into a reasonable powder, it does not have to be very fine.

In a large heavy bottomed pan place the grated jaggery with cooked rice and place on medium to low heat. Keep stirring frequently until the jaggery melts and allow the mixture to simmer for a few minutes.


When the mixture begins to thicken slightly, add powdered sesame (til/ ellu) and mix well.
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Add clarified butter and cardamom powder to this mixture and keep stirring it on low heat.
When the  mixture starts thickens a little more, remove from heat. Do remember that once it cools a little it thickens a bit more. If you plan to garnish, heat clarified butter in a small pan. Add broken cashew pieces to it and stir until the cashews turn an even reddish color. Remove and pour entire mixture on the pongal.

Serves about 2

Notes:
If you like your sweets very mild, then you might want to reduce the quantity of jaggery to about 3/4 cup .

29 comments :

anudivya said...

Usha, is this like Pongal? but with sesame? I mean the taste?
Looks gooey and delicious.
I will try to do the tag soon. Thanks for thinking of me.

raaji said...

Thanks Usha for thinking of me.....but i have already done this.....so i will just link back my next post with a previous one.....

I was just thinking of what to make for tommorows pooja....I think this would be perfect as a Naivedhyam....

ST said...

Looks yummy and delicious......Love reading ur meme.. I also love almost all sweets ......

Vaishali said...

Sweet Sesame rice: I even love the name. Looks great, Usha, and it sounds like it'd be pretty easy to veganize. Thanks, dear!

Laavanya said...

Oh that looks delicious... I'm not a big sesame fan but this is yummy.
Thanks for tagging me dear Usha.. I did this a while ago... :) It's on my blog already.

Alexa said...

Usha,
This is the type of rice dish that would be a big hit in my family. Your blog is going to be keeping me busy... Always a good thing. :-)

Uma said...

never heard of this sweet sesame rice. looks so delicious. nice meme too.

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

When I plan to make some sweet sometime, I will make this one.. looks like chakkarai pongal.. thanks for tagging me. this is the first time i am tagged.

Unknown said...

something very similar to chakkarai pongal..sesame seeds must be giving extra flavour to the sweet..good one!!

Unknown said...

sweet pongal with brown rice and seasemi seeds wow intresting

Sum Raj said...

looks lovly and delicious...thanks for tagging me..i have done this b4..nice reading ur meme..

Deepika said...

Thanks for visiting my blog, Usha! I love yours. I've already bookmarked your eggless bakes for future reference. :D

Priya Suresh said...

Looks delicious...they looks like temple prasadhams...sesame will surely give extra flavour to the rice..

Purva Desai said...

Never heard about this dish...
This looks really tempting...

Shama Nagarajan said...

hai usha

ur dish looks delicious............hvn't tasted it b4 ........tempts me to taste it soon

Jaishree Iyer said...

Looks yummy and delicious.....

Cham said...

Look like Sakkarai pongal but definetly the taste should be completly different with sesame seed. Another new dessert, looks good :)

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Sesame seeds and jaggery with rice sounds relly interesting, should definitely taste great...thanks for tagging me...

Maria said...

Nice looking rice and fun post!

Anonymous said...

We also use jaggery - first time I have heard of the English name - here we call it "panocha" - for our many desserts dishes. I agree with you that it is healthier :)

Pam said...

The rice looks and sounds really good.

I too have a sweet tooth - especially for ice cream.

Sujatha said...

Never had, Sweet sesame rice, bu i've tried the savory sesame one.. You are right, every savory rice can be modified to be a sweet rice :) I will soon give this a try, looks yummy!

Shreya said...

hi, i have never had this one. Looks really nice, almost like sharkara pongal. Love the recipe, will try it..

Recipeswap said...

This is a new recipe sounds almost like pongal but only better.

Dershana said...

Looks like sarkarai pongal :-)but guess the sesame seeds would give it a completely different taste and charecter.

miss v said...

anything with sesame is a win for me!

Anonymous said...

Hi usha ur blog is fine & it contains different recipes.Sesame sweet rice seems new & different..Looking yummy also

Torviewtoronto said...

Looks wonderful

Priya said...

Love this wonderful yellu pongal .Def a diff pongal recipe .Happy pongal usha

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