Venn (Ghee) Pongal

Pongal is a harvest festival in South India, celebrated around the second week of January. It often coincides with the festival of Makar Sankranti & Lohri festivals of the north. Pongal denotes prosperity & abundance and is celebrated by the local community with lot of festivities & making wonderful recipes. Pongal is one such breakfast recipe made with the new or fresh harvested rice, which cooks in a jiffy. This dish is very easy to make. Just boil the rice & lentils to its right consistency & then add the seasoning. Clarified butter is an absolute essential for making this dish, nothing else tastes better :) There are mainly 2 kinds of pongal, one is the sweet kind, here I have made the ven pongal or the savoury kind. Ven means white & so this dish omits the use of turmeric, which otherwise is a popular ingredient in most Indian dishes. But some people like to add a little turmeric too, make it according to your own taste & enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncjD-gH-9E
Servings: 4 yield(s)
Ingredients
  • cup rice
  • 1/2 cup yellow mung dal (moong dal yellow)
  • 3 tbsp. clarified butter (ghee)
  • 8 cashewnuts
  • 1 tsp. cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp. crushed black pepper (or more according to taste)
  • 1 green chilli chopped
  • 1 tsp.chopped ginger
  • a little pinch of asafoetida (hing)
  • a little salt (to taste)
  • few sprigs curry leaves
Instructions
  1. Dry roast the moong dal & rice in a pan for a couple of minutes. Then add a tsp. of ghee & mix well for another minute or so.
  2. Bring about 5 cups of water in a pressure cooker to a boil. Add salt, chopped ginger & green chillies. Now add in the roasted rice & dal to the cooker & let it cook for about 3 to 4 whistles. Let the pressure cooker cool completely.
  3. Now heat the remaining ghee in a small pan and fry the cashews for a minute. Then add cumin, asafoetida & curry leaves.
  4. Open the pressure cooker & check the pongal consistency. If you need, add a cup of hot water & put it on low heat. Add the seasonings (contents of the small pan) to the pongal and mix well. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes & serve warm.
Recipe Notes

This dish is traditionally with coconut chutney or  eggplant/brinjal gothsu.