Siblings fighting for jaggery during Pongal making competition

2014-08-12 1

Wife of Tamil Nadu House officer starts making Sakarai Pongal

Sakarai pongal (lit. sugar pongal) is generally prepared in temples as a prasadam, (an offering made to a deity, as a thanksgiving). This type of pongal is prevalent in Pongal festivals in Tamil Nadu, India.

Ingredients can include rice, coconut and mung bean. Sakarai pongal is traditionally sweetened with jaggery, which gives the pongal a brown colour, though it can be sweetened with white sugar instead. .

Pongal is a popular rice dish in all South Indian states, and Tamil-speaking areas of Sri Lanka. Pongal is common in Tamil cuisine. In dravidian languages the root word pong or pongu means to " boil over" or "spill over". There are two varieties of pongal, namely, sakarai pongal(Tamizh) or chakkera pongali (Telugu) which is a sweet and the other variety isven pongal (Tamizh) or nethi Pongali (Telugu) which is made from scarified butter. The unqualified word pongal usually refers to spicy pongal, and is a common breakfast food in several parts of India. The rice boiled with milk and jaggery during the Pongal festival is also called pongal - this is sweet pongal made specially in earthenware pots with a wood fire.

Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamil people at the end of the harvest season. Pongal is a four day festival which usually takes place from January 13 to 16 in the Gregorian calendar i.e., the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi to the third day of Tamil month Thai.

It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Tamil people in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry and Sri Lanka.
The fourth and the last day of Pongal is known as Kaanum Pongal. In some parts of Tamil Nadu, Kaanum Pongal is also known as Karinaal. Sun God is worshipped on the day and people offer food along with Sarkarai Pongal. Sugarcane is offered to the deity as well as exchange among people to symbolize sweetness and joy in life. Kaanum Pongal is the time for people to pay visits to their loved ones and faraway acquaintances. Pongal songs and folk dances are performed by people, on Kaanum Pongal.

Source - Wikipedia

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