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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
6 Min
06/01/2026
Festivals are a reminder to slow down and get back to your roots, and celebrations like Pongal are the perfect time to do that. While the earthen pots bubble for many dishes, there’s one particular dish that deserves to be talked about – sakkarai pongal, the festival’s underrated and signature sweet dish, which is meant to be savoured. This dish now reappears each January across homes, offices, reels, and group chats, functioning like a warm, throwback moment in a hyperconnected world.
Sakkarai pongal, as it is known in Tamil Nadu, is a sweet dish made on festive occasions with rice, moong lentils, ghee, jaggery or sugar, cardamoms, nuts and camphor (the temple-style version). It also goes by the name of sweet pongal or chakkara pongali in Telugu. The dish is made in earthen pots, where the pongal is expected to bubble over, as a sign of abundance and is first offered to the Gods. This is done during the day of Makar Sankranti (January 14 or 15), which is known as Pongal in Tamil Nadu. It is a harvest festival, and this sweet pongal is a part of almost every menu for Pongal Thirunaal.
Sakkarai pongal begins with raw rice, preferably the locally loved sona masuri, yellow moong dal – one cup of rice to a quarter cup of moong dal – though this can be adjusted based on family preferences. The moong dal’s preparation is different from other dals – it needs to be dry roasted first, until it releases a fragrant, nutty aroma that becomes the foundation of the dish.
The sweetness of this dish comes exclusively from jaggery (syrup version), as well as a particular earthy richness that is associated with jaggery. Copious amounts of good-quality desi cow are also added to it.
Then come the spices and condiments – cardamom powder and cloves add their trademark notes, then come the dry fruits and nuts like coconut pieces, roasted cashews and raisins, which are fried in ghee until golden. They add a richness to the creamy and sweet dish. What’s special here is the camphor, which has its own unique taste and aroma, offering a distinctive temple-style fare.
The cooking of sakkarai pongal is done in sunlight, usually in a porch or courtyard, and the dish is dedicated to the Hindu Sun God, Surya. The preparation itself becomes a ritual where the entire family gathers to witness the cooking. The cooking is traditionally done in a clay pot that is garlanded with leaves or flowers, sometimes tied with a piece of turmeric root.
The act of allowing food to deliberately boil over, which would normally be considered wasteful, becomes a statement about abundance and generosity. It's an acknowledgement that there is enough, that the harvest has been bountiful, and that blessings overflow beyond what can be contained. Symbolically, the dish’s ‘boiling over’ is also believed to be a mark of the blessing by Goddess Parvati.
Temples and communities organise free kitchens prepared by volunteers for all those who gather, and portions of the sweet pongal dish are distributed as prasadam in temples. The temple-style sakkarai pongal has specific characteristics that distinguish it from those made at home. The key ingredient for flavouring in temple-style preparations is edible camphor. Many devotees will recount to you vividly the pongal’s distinctive aroma and flavour, which evokes a sense of peace and thankfulness.
Communities organise processions by parading icons from the sanctum of the temple in wooden chariots, with drama-dance performances prompting social gatherings. The preparation of sakkarai pongal in temples also becomes a communal activity where volunteers work together to cook massive quantities in large bronze or brass vessels. Sometimes, entire families cook together at their local temples, offering it to the deity, then distributing it among other devotees.
More than a harvest festival, Pongal strengthens family bonds and community spirit, with sharing sweets and visiting relatives creating lasting memories. The preparation of sakkarai pongal becomes an opportunity for intergenerational transfer of knowledge. Every family or temple does it differently, and the recipe is peppered with anecdotes, trivia, and hacks that you won’t just find in a guidebook.
Such occasions are a good time for families spread across the nation or even the world to gather and share meals and exchange blessings. It’s a great way of reinforcing Tamilian culture, which focuses on familial bonding – individual success is always understood within the context of family and community prosperity. On Kaanum Pongal, the fourth day of the festival, these bonds extend outward as families visit relatives carrying containers of freshly made sakkarai pongal as gifts.
Pongal is a quintessential Tamil festival celebrated with customs that reflect the state's agricultural roots and serve as cultural identity. Sakkarai pongal, with its sweet, ghee-laden aroma filling a kitchen, doesn't just signal that Pongal has arrived; it announces Tamil identity itself. It’s a time of going back to your roots, decorating homes with artsy ‘kolam’ and counting your blessings.
