VEN PONGAL | KHARA PONGAL | GHEE PONGAL

VEN PONGAL | KHARA PONGAL | GHEE PONGAL

VEN PONGAL - This is yet another popular and delicious breakfast recipe in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu. I could say this is  one of the simplest recipe that is prepared with only two ingredients, rice and moongdal .

      In just three steps your pongal is ready 

                First      -  rice and moongdal is cooked

                Second  -  Ingredients to be tempered is sauted in ghee

                Third    -  Both are mixed together.

There are different versions of preparing pongal and based on the way we cook the taste also differs a lot. Eventhough I have mentioned as the simplest recipe, there is always a good technique behind in preparing tasty pongal. Ghee plays a vital role in this dish as it enriches the taste , so don't avoid it.

In my version rice and moongdal is cooked  and  tempered with cumin , pepper, ginger, curry leaves and cashews sauted in ghee. I use pressure cooker to prepare my pongal, I know everyone uses the same way as I do as we all want to finish our cooking in a jiffy, but my MIL's preparation is entirely in a different  way, she cooks the pongal in a heavy bottomed vessel without using the cooker and the tempering part is done with the homemade ghee. The taste is completely different and unique. My daughter always rates my MIL's recipe as the best and when I ask about my dish , so far I get only Ok or BETTER and you know all my weekends starts with pongal as breakfast as my lil one loves it.  

The only difficulty in my MIL's version is patience, So friends , if you find time ,do try out preparing pongal without using pressure cooker and see the difference.

Serves : 2

Preparation time : 5 mins

Cooking time : 25 - 30 mins

For this recipe you need

• 2 cups of raw rice
• 1/2 cup of  Moongdal
• 1 or 2 Green chillies, split lengthwise
• Salt

For tempering

• 1/2 tsp. of cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. of black pepper
• Small piece of ginger, finely chopped
• 7 - 8 nos. of cashewnuts
• A sprig of curry leaves
• 3 tbsp. of Ghee

Preparation

Wash and pressure cook the rice and moongdal, along with salt and green chillies,for about 5-6 whistles.

Heat ghee, fry the cashews until golden brown and keep it aside.

Now add the remaining ingredients mentioned under tempering,fry it well.

When the pressure is down, add the tempered ingredients and mix well.

Serve hot with coconut chutney or sambar.

Pongal tastes great when served hot :)

Note : 

Don't skip ginger as it enhances the flavor of the pongal.

For more hot version , you can crush few black peppers and mix well, in this way peppery pongal is ready.

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