During my several visits to South India, I have soaked in the festival of Pongal by savouring both chakarai pongal, which is sweet, and venn pongal, the salt version. Having closely observed the traditional preparation of the dish, here's my re-created version, an easy-to-make at-home recipe of the dish that can be savoured through the festive days. The dish is nutritious and can be had during any time of the day, but is best enjoyed at breakfast time. If you are looking to prepare pongal for your family and want to make it extra nutritious, then you can replace rice with any other grain like oats, amaranth, millets or quinoa. Here is a slightly healthy and delicious version of the venn pongal:
Pongal
Ingredients
Raw rice: 1cup
Moong dal (without skin): ½ cup
Salt: to taste
Water: 6 cups
Cold pressed virgin coconut oil: 4 tbsp
Cashew nuts: handful
Asafoetida: a generous pinch
Peppercorn: 12nos
Cumin seeds: 1tsp
Green chilli chopped: 1 no
Curry leaves: handful
Ginger chopped: 1 tbsp
Method
Heat a deep pan on medium heat. Dry roast the rice and moong dal together for 3-4 minutes. This enhances the flavour of the final dish. Now add six cups of water and salt. Cover and cook till the rice and dal get mashed. Remove and keep aside. In a separate pan, add half the virgin coconut oil and add cashewnuts. Cook on low heat till cashewnuts change colour. Remove them from the pan. In the same pan add the rest of the virgin coconut oil and once sufficiently hot, add asafoetida. Stir and add peppercorns and cumin. Saute and now add chopped ginger, green chilli and curry leaves. Saute for a minute, add the roasted cashewnuts to this tempering and add the boiled rice and dal. Mix together and check for seasoning. Toss and serve hot.
Happy Pongal!