Cooking - Pongal - 17 Sept'21

 

VenPongal:

For Serving 3

Ingredients:

1 cup raw rice (Wash 3-4 times and soak for 15-30 mins prior preparation)

¾ cup yellow split moong dal/Green gram (Wash 3-4 times and soak for 15-30 mins prior preparation)

1 table spoon chopped cashews

1 table spoon whole black Pepper

1 table spoon Jeera

Curry Leaves

1 piece ginger – ground into fine past

1 pinch asafoetida

Ghee

Oil

1 table spoon Salt

5 cups of water

Optional : Tumeric Powder and 1 piece green chilli  - ground to fine paste

Method: Using a cooker

Start to oil water in a tea pan. Heat 3 table spoons of oil in cooker. Add Jeera and black pepper in the. Let it splutter. Add curry leaves, ginger paste, chilli paste and turmeric. Roast it until ginger paste becomes golden brown. Add rice and dal. Roast until the rice and dal slightly puff. Rice has to attain a bright white colour and dal should be golden brown. Add the boiling water. Add salt. Once, everything starts to boil, close the lid for 2-3 whistles. Let, the cooker cool for a while. Take a small pan, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee. Add cashews, asafoetida and curry leaves. Let the cashews become slightly golden brown. Pour it in the cooker. Mix it well. Serve the Pongal Hot with medu vada, sambhar or Katrika/brinjal gotsu and pottu kadla chutney (roasted Bengal gram Chutney). Finish it with chakra Pongal or start with it.

 

Chakra Pongal

For Serving 3

Ingredients:

1 cup raw rice (Wash 3-4 times and soak for 15-30 mins prior preparation)

¾ cup yellow split moong dal/Green gram (Wash 3-4 times and soak for 15-30 mins prior preparation)

1 table spoon chopped cashews

1 table spoon chopped raisins

2 cups jaggery

2 pinches cardamom powder/ 2 cardamoms

6 table spoons of Ghee

1 pinch Salt

4 cups of water

1 cup of milk

Optional: Chopped Almonds, 2 cloves, 1 bay leaf

Method: Using a cooker

Start to boil water and milk in a tea pan. The quantity of milk can be slightly increased for getting a creamier Pongal. Heat 4 table spoons of ghee in cooker. Add cardamom, clove and bay leaf. Add rice and dal. Roast until the rice and dal slightly puff. Rice has to attain a bright white colour and dal should be golden brown. Add the boiling water. Add salt. Once, everything starts to boil, close the lid for 2-3 whistles. Let, the cooker cool for a while.

In the tea pan, boil ½ cup of water. Add jaggery. Bring it to boil. Filter it and keep the jaggery water aside. Ideally, the jaggery has to be double the amount of rice taken. Slightly higher quantity would enhance the taste for sweet lovers.

Pour the Jagerry water in the cooked rice – dal. Mix it well. It will be sticky. Need to run the spatula till the end of the pot vigorously so that nothing sticks or burns. Do it for 5 mins and turn the stove off.

Take a small pan, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee. Add cashews, almond and raisins. Let the cashews and almonds become slightly golden brown. The raisin would puff. Pour it in the cooker. For richer taste, ½ cup ghee can be slightly heated and poured into it. Mix it well. Serve the Pongal Hot or cool it well in the refrigerator to serve as preferred.