Pongal
There are mainly 2 varieties of Pongal, Chakkara Pongal and Venn Pongal. Chakkara Pongal is usually made with rice, moong dal, jaggery of sugar and coconut. It’s often served as prasadam in temples. On the other hand, Venn Pongal is a savory dish mostly eaten for breakfast in the southern states of India and Sri Lanka. Its often served along with coconut chutney and sambar. It’s a very comforting
food. Enjoy it piping hot either in your breakfast or evening tiffin or an early dinner. With a bowl of sambar and a dollop of coconut chutney, it’s a well balanced meal, loaded with proteins, carbohydrates and fat from the ghee and nuts.
Please do not skip roasting the dal for few minutes. It brings out the flavour of the dal. You can even add a pinch of turmeric powder. Skip the proper corns if you do not like it.
Ingredients:
- Raw rice 1/2 cup
- Moong dal 1/2 cup
- Salt to taste
- Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
- Curry leaves few
- Pepper corns 1/4 tsp
- Ghee 1-2 tbsp
- Cashew nuts/badam handful
Method:
- Roast the moong dal in a kadhai for 4-5 minutes.
- Wash the rice and roasted moong dal and drain the water. Keep it aside for 25-30 minutes.
- Add 3 to 3.5 times water and salt to the soaked rice-dal mixture and pressure cook it for 1 whistle and then cook at medium flame for around 10-15 minutes.
- Once the pressure is fully released, open the cooker and mash the rice-dal mixture.
- Heat some ghee in a heavy kadhai and add cumin seeds. When they splutter add crushed pepper corns, chopped green chilies, curry leaves, cashew nuts or almonds.
- Add these to the cooked rice-dal and mix well.
- Serve it hot with coconut chutney and sambar.
