Pongal 2025: Try Traditional 'Pongal' Recipes For A Festive Feast At Home

As the harvest season begins, southern India comes alive with the vibrant celebrations of Pongal, a festival that marks gratitude for nature’s bounty. Starting with Bhogi Pongal on January 14, 2025, this four-day festivity is a time for renewal, joy, and togetherness.

No Pongal celebration is complete without indulging in traditional delicacies like sweet and savoury Pongal, representing the festival's essence. These dishes, prepared with fresh harvest ingredients, make for a perfect festive feast at home.

Try three easy and delicious Pongal recipes at home:

Samaiarisi Sarkari Pongal – Little Millet Pongal

Recipes by Gopalsamy S, Speciality Chef at Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd

Ingredients:

Samai arisi (little millet): 300 gm

Split green gram: 100 gm

Jaggery: 650 g

Milk: 100 ml

Crushed cardamom: 2 gm

Ghee: 75 gm

Cashew nuts: 25 gms

Raisin: 25gms

Water: 600 ml

A pinch of salt

Method:

• Wash millet and lentils together for 20 minutes and drain the water in a bowl. 

• Take jaggery and make syrup; keep it aside. 

• Boil the dal in a pressure cooker and keep it aside. 

• Take a clay pot or any thick-bottomed vessel, add water and milk and let a little millet and dal mixture boil on a slow fire. 

• Once cooked well, add jaggery, fold well with rice, stir slowly with a fold on all sides, and cook for a few minutes at a slow temperature.

• Add ghee and fold slowly. Add cardamom powder. little coconut 

• Add ghee-fried cashew nuts and raisins, as well as ghee-fried coconut, on Pongal for garnishes.

Note: Garnish with ghee-fried cashew nut and raisins; coconut is served traditionally with a clay pot or banana leaf 

Sarkari Pongal (Sweet Pongal)

Raw rice: 250 gm

Moong dal: 75 gm

Jaggery: 500 gm

Ghee: 100 gm

Cardamom: 2gm

Water: 900 ml

Milk: 100 ml

Cashew nut: 50 gm

Raisins: 50 gm

A pinch of salt

Dry ginger (sukku)

Coconut julien (thin slice garnished) 50 gm 

Method:

• Wash rice and lentils together for 20 minutes and drain the water in a bowl. 

• Take the jaggery, make it into small chunks and keep it aside. 

• Take a clay pot or any thick-bottomed vessel, add water, milk, rice and dal mixture, and allow it to boil over a slow fire. 

• Once the rice is cooked 95%, add jaggery fold well with the rice stirring slowly folding all sides and cooking for a few minutes at a slow temperature 

• Add ghee and fold slowly. Add cardamom powder. Dry ginger and a little coconut 

• Add ghee-fried cashew nuts and raisins, as well as ghee-fried coconut, on Pongal for garnishes. 

Jackfruit Pongal  

Ingredients:

Raw rice: 300 gm

Moong dal: 75 gm

Jaggery: 400 gm

Chopped jackfruit: 200 g

Ghee: 120 gm

Cardamom: 2 gm

Water: 700 ml

Milk: 100 ml

Cashew nut: 50 gm

Raisins: 50 gm

A pinch of salt

Coconut julien (thin slice garnished): 50 gm

Method:

• Wash rice and lentils together for 20 minutes and drain the water in a bowl. 

• Take the jaggery, make it into small chunks and keep it aside. 

• Take a clay pot or any thick-bottomed vessel, add water, milk, rice and dal mixture, and allow it to boil over a slow fire. 

• Once the rice is cooked, add chopped jackfruit and jaggery, fold well with the rice, stir slowly with folded sides cook for a few minutes at a slow temperature (don’t cook jackfruit over time)

• Add ghee and fold slowly. Add cardamom powder. And little coconut 

• Add ghee-fried cashew nuts and raisins, as well as ghee-fried coconut, on Pongal for garnishes. 

• Note: Don't cook over time; add jackfruit at the last minute. Garnish with ghee-fried cashew nut and raisins; coconut is served traditionally with a clay pot or banana leaf.