Pongal is a South Indian porridge prepared with cooked rice and lentils and topped with a seasoning of ghee, curry leaves, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. This recipe for Pongal is easy to prepare, and you can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Table of Contents
About Pongal
Pongal is a typical dish prepared in homes in South India as a meal at any time of day – breakfast, lunch or dinner. The main ingredients are white rice and yellow lentils/moong dal.
You can use any rice to make pongal, but it tastes best with medium-grain rice like sona masoori or small-grain rice like Jeeraga Samba rice.
It also goes by the name of Ven Pongal owing to the colour of the dish, which is white. (Ven = White). It also goes by the name of Khara Pongal, which translates to spicy Pongal as against its famous counterpart, Sakkara Pongal, which is sweet.
You can make Pongal throughout the year, as rice and dal are always available. It is light on the stomach owing to the two simple ingredients – Rice and Moong Dal.
How to make Pongal?
The rice to Dal ratio should ideally be 1 part dal to 3 parts rice. This ratio is a golden rule when consuming dal and rice. If you want to make the dish heavier, add equal quantities of rice and dal.
The first step is roasting the yellow moong dal on a low flame until it is fragrant. This should take no more than 2 minutes. This only helps bring forth flavour from the yellow moong dal. Switch off the flame, add it along with the measured-out rice and rinse them until the water runs clear.
If you have the time, you can soak them in water for about 10-15 minutes, drain them, and add fresh water before cooking them.
Pressure cooker method
Most kitchens in India have a pressure cooker, either the large 10lt one or a small 2/3 l cooker primarily used for cooking vegetables.
Large pressure cooker
If you are using the large pressure cooker, fill that pressure cooker with 1 inch of water. If you have a trivet, place it, else you can use a small plate instead. This will help situate the vessel with dal rice on top of it; else, you might hear the rattle of the vessel when the water boils – quite annoying and unnerving, actually.
Add the washed rice and dal in a vessel/container and the finely chopped ginger and peppercorn. Add water and make sure the water is 1 inch above the dal and rice. The more water, the better, because the desired consistency of Pongal is soft and mushy. Close that container with a lid/plate and place it in the large pressure cooker.
Close the lid of the pressure cooker, and keep the flame high. Once the pressure cooker has let out 3-4 whistles, reduce the flame to low and let it be for a minute or two. Switch off the flame and let the pressure cooker cool down naturally.
While you wait for the pressure to come down, prep the ingredients needed for tempering. Remove the vessel from the pressure cooker and check the consistency. If the cooked rice-dal isn’t mushy enough, add half a cup of hot water to bring it to that mushy consistency. Some folks prefer it non-mushy, but that is perfectly fine too.
Small pressure cooker
If you use a small pressure cooker, you can add the washed dal-rice, pepper, and ginger directly. Add enough water, so there is one inch above the rice and dal.
Close the lid and let 4-5 whistles go. Since it is a small cooker, you’ll get the whistles faster. Once you’ve heard 4-5 whistles, reduce the flame to simmer and let it be for another 2 minutes. Switch off and let the pressure to reduce naturally.
The Tempering
Pongal’s flavour comes primarily from the spices that are tempered in ghee. By itself, it is just a bowl of mushy dal rice.
Place a tadka pan or a small pan on medium heat. Add 2-3 tablespoons of ghee. Once the ghee has melted, add the mustard seeds. Wait for the crackle. You want the mustard seeds to crackle/pop open.
Next, add the cumin seeds, followed by asafoetida. Some people add turmeric powder, but it is entirely up to you. Next, add in the cashew nuts and give it all a good stir until the cashew nuts are golden brown. Turn off the heat and add the curry leaves. The curry leaves will crisp up in the residual heat of the pan. Add this tempering to the cooked dal rice. You have now tempered your Pongal.
Add salt – mix, mix, mix. Pongal is ready!
Serving Suggestions
You can eat Pongal by itself, but they pair well with:-
- Coconut Chutney
- Vegetable Sambar
- Brinjal Gothsu
- Papad and Pickle
Pongal – the festival
Pongal happens to be the name of a South Indian dish, as well as the name of a harvest festival celebrated in the month of January.
In about mid-January, when the sun turns north in South India, the first harvesting season of the calendar year begins. Farmers harvest fresh rice and lentils, and they use the harvest to prepare Pongal. As per tradition, people decorate a mud pot or a brass pot (vengala paanai) with fresh turmeric, mango leaves, and kumkum to mark the occasion, and then they cook rice and dal in it.
Dal and rice are allowed to boil until it froths up and boils over the pot’s rim. At this point, the family gathers around the pot and calls out, “Pongalo, Pongal”. Pongal in Tamil means boiling over. Letting the pot overflow symbolizes the hope and prayer for abundance in terms of health, wealth, harvest, and happiness for the rest of the year.
Tips for making a delicious Pongal
- Why should we roast the dal?
Roasting dal gives the Pongal a better flavour. If you do not have the time to roast dal right before making the Pongal, you can roast a whole batch of it and use it when needed. Roasting dal also helps ward off insects from entering/growing in the container.
- Why should we soak Dal?
Soaking moong dal or soaking any lentils before cooking removes the phytate or anti-nutrients present in lentils and pulses. Removing these anti-nutrients helps our body digest the lentil better, leading to better absorption of nutrients from the dish. If you have ever experienced bloating or flatulence after consuming lentils or pulses, it is because dal has not soaked before cooking.
Once you soak the dal, let the water drain. Wash the soaked lentils in freshwater before cooking them.
Tips for beginners
This is a dish that any cooking novice can prepare without too much effort. If a person is staying on their own or new to cooking, you only need a small pressure cooker to get you started.
You can skip the roasting of dal and the soaking dal. Just wash and pressure cook dal and rice with adequate water and peppercorns.
Add salt after cooking the dal and rice. Mix it well. Add ghee on top of the Pongal and voila – a simple version of Pongal is ready.
Pepper Corns in Pongal
In my recipe, I have noted that whole black peppercorns are added to the rice dal and cooked together. I do this because they are easy to remove when children do not like chewing into back pepper. I also do not add them during tempering in ghee because they tend to burst and create quite a mess when added to the hot ghee. But many do not take this approach. So you can choose to add pepper at any stage.
- Crush it and add it to the rice-dal when cooking so there are smaller chunks of pepper through the pongal
- Add the whole peppercorn to the rice-dal when cooking, that is easy to pick out when not eaten.
- Add pepper powder after cooking rice-dal
- Temper whole black pepper in ghee along with the other ingredients used for tempering.
Variations
Pongal can be prepared not only with rice as the primary grain but also rava/semolina, broken wheat or little millet. They make a good change in flavour and texture.
Below is my recipe on how to make pongal for 2 adults. You may double or triple it based on your requirement.
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Recipe
Pongal
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Rice 100 g
- 1/4 cup Yellow Moong Dal 40 g
- 5-6 Pepper corns
- 2 cups Water 500 ml
- 1 inch Ginger finely chopped
For the tempering
- 2 tbsp. Ghee
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1/2 tsp Asafoetida powdered
- 1/3 cup Cashew Nuts the more the better
- 2 sprig Curry leaves
Optional
- 1 tbsp. Coconut grated
Instructions
Pongal Prep
- Wash the rice and moong dal together in a container until the water is clear. Add 2 cups or 500 ml of water to the washed rice-dal. Add the peppercorns and finely chopped ginger. Close the container with a plate.
- Add an inch or two of water in your pressure cooker and place on the stove. Keep the container with the washed rice and dal in the large pressure cooker.If you are cooking directly in a small pressure cooker, add 500 ml water and the washed rice-dal along with the peppercorns and ginger.
- Let the dal and rice pressure cook for 3 whistles on medium to high flame. Once 3 whistles are done, lower the flame to low and let the pressure cooker be on for another 2 minutes. Switch off the flame and let the pressure come down on its own.
- While the pressure cooker is cooling down, keep the ingredients that are necessary for tempering/ seasoning. Wash the curry leaves, keep aside 1/3 cup of cashew nuts.
- Once the pressure cooker has cooled down, bring out the container of cooked dal and rice. Your pongal is almost ready. All it needs is tempering. If you are using a small pressure cooker, you don't have to change the container, you can add the tempering directly to the cooked rice-dal.
Tempering the Pongal
- Keep the tempering pan/ tadka pan on low flame, once the pan is warm add the 2 tablespoons of ghee. Once the ghee is warm, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let them crackle.
- Next, add the asafoetida powder and cashew nuts. Stir until the cashews are golden. Switch off the flame and add the curry leaves, the leaves will crisp up in the residual heat. The curry leaves will sputter all over, so stand back.
- Add this tempering to the cooked rice and dal. Add salt and give it a good mix. If you have grated coconut, you can add 2 tablespoons of it and mix it too.
- Your Pongal is ready.
Notes
If you are looking for more tiffin recipes, here are a few that you might be interested in.
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