Pongal
A comforting rice and lentil porridge tempered in ghee with south Indian spices and curry leaves
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
Shelf Life : Pongal is best eaten when hot or within a few hours of it being made.
Since it contains lot of water, its best to put it in the fridge if it is not going to be eaten right away.
Keeping pongal in the fridge will thicken it. So when you bring it out of the fridge, keep it at room temperature for at least 5-10 minutes. Add hot water and give it a good mix so that the congealed ghee can melt.
If you do want to make pongal and store in the fridge, it is best eaten within 2 days of having made it.