Ven Pongal

Ven Pongal, south Indian Breakfast recipe and its our constant weekend breakfast. My kids love both sweet and savory Pongal. So i make it weekly once and also its healthy with dal, spices like pepper n jeera. I love to add little more moongdal to my pongal, say for 1 cup rice  1/2 cup of moongdal. Sure it give a nice nutty flavor and rich taste to the pongal. If not tried this way plz give it a try sure you will love it. Even after cooling pongal tastes so good and flavorful. The recipe as follows...

Ingredients

1. Rice    1 cup ( i use Sona Masoori)
2. Moong dal    1/2 cup or less
3. Water  4 and 1/2 cups
4. Salt     to taste
5. Turmeric Powder      a tiny pinch(optional)
6. For Tempering
7. Ghee     3 tbsp (i used oil)
8. Pepper corns        1/2 tbsp (whole or roughly ground)
9. Jeera/cumin seeds     1 and 1/2 tbsp
10. Cashew nuts       2-3 tbsp chopped
11. Ginger              2 tsp(finely chopped)
12. Curry leaves        1 twig
13. Coriander leaves     1 tbsp (finely chopped)

Method

• Roast moongdal with a tsp of  ghee.(this is optional, i sometimes do this step and sometimes i skip it too).
• In a pressure cooker add the roasted dal and rice with  4.5 cups of water.
• Add  necessary salt, pinch of turmeric powder(if using) and 1 tbsp of ghee, stir well and pressure cook it for one whistle.
• Wait till the pressure cools down.
• Once done, remove the cooker and its time to add temperings,
• Now heat ghee and add cashew nuts, cumin seeds and pepper corns or crushed pepper let them splutter
• and add chopped ginger, curry leaves and coriander leaves.
• Pour the tempering to the pongal and mix well.
• Now the pongal is ready to serve hot with sambar and chutney.

Notes:
Adding ghee is up to your preference, less or more.
Water quantity based on the rice quality also, so if your pongal(after pressure cooking) turns dry or hard just add 1/4 cup of water n pinch salt to the tempering pan n bring it to boil and add it to the pongal n stir well.