Sigappu Arisi Sakkarai Pongal | Kerala Matta Arisi Sakkarai Pongal | Broken Red Rice Sweet Pongal Recipe

Hi Supermoms,

Hope you all had an amazing Pongal celebration. It was a busy but enjoyable week for me too. 

I cooked all the traditional dishes and completely enjoyed serving them to my family . This year for bhogi ( the first day of Pongal celebration ) , I cooked a dessert using the Kerala Matta Rice in broken form. I have heard so much about this rice and even tasted it a few times, but never really cooked them at home. 

This time when I went to get my monthly provisions from the South Indian Grocery store, I remembered to purchase broken Kerala Matta Rice to try few recipes. I know that this rice is more nutritious and takes a little longer to cook than the white rice. 

I used just half  cup of the broken matta rice for this recipe and it was enough for the four of us. I dry roasted the rice , washed it twice and soaked it in water for 2 hours before I pressure cooked it for 5 whistles on low flame. Though , I started with the intention of making payasam with the rice using jaggery and milk, I ended up making sakkarai pongal (did not add the milk ) as I loved the texture of the jaggery and broken rice mixture. 

The rice had swollen well and was soft to bite into. I had added very little ghee to temper the pongal. You can completely avoid it if you are vegan. 

If you have not cooked Matta Rice ( Kerala Red rice)  and hesitating to give it a try, this recipe will surely motivate you. It was an enjoyable experience of cooking and every one loved the taste. You can also break the whole red rice by coarsely grinding it. 

Kerala Matta Arisi Sakkarai Pongal :

Preparation time : 2 hours

Cooking time : 30 minutes

Serves : 4

1 cup = 250 ml cup 

Ingredients :

1/2 cup broken matta rice

1 teaspoon moong dal/broken and husked green gram

1/2 cup jaggery ( powdered)

1-2 green cardamom ( coarsely powdered)

For Garnish :

1 teaspoon ghee/clarified butter 

6-7 cashew nuts

6-7 raisins ( optional)

Method :

1. In a thick bottom vessel/pan, roast the broken rice and dal till they are fragrant.

2. Wash and soak them in 4 cups of water for a minimum of 1 hour.

3. Pressure cook the soaked rice and dal mixture along with water upto 5-6 whistles.

Chef tip : Cook the pressure cooker in low/medium flame. Use an inner vessel to boil the rice .

4. Melt the jaggery in 1 cup of water and filter the impurities.

5. In a heavy bottom kadai/wok or vessel add the melted jaggery water and bring it to a boil.

6. Add the cooked rice and dal mixture ( along with the water).

7. Let them cook over low flame for another 10 -12 minutes or till the time the mixture thickens.

8. Switch off and garnish with ghee,  cashew nuts and raisins.

Your delicious broken Matta rice sakkarai pongal is ready to be served . I served it along with our Bhogi lunch platter. The other bhogi specialities I cooked and served were  paruppu vadai and thengai poli . 

Happy Cooking !

With love,

Masterchefmom