For the fifth day of Indian States, I have a common Tamil breakfast, pongal. There are two versions of pongal; ven pongal the savory version and sakkarai pongal the sweet version. Ven pongal is one of the common breakfast items in Tamil Nadu, besides idli, dosa and vada. It is prepared by cooking together rice and moong dal and then seasoning with oil or ghee (clarified butter).
Ven pongal is usually served with sambar and coconut chutney. For today’s mini thali, I have pongal with tiffin sambar and coconut chutney. Though pongal is a common breakfast, it can also be eaten for lunch or dinner. I made it for my lunch. I do make pongal once in awhile as a one pot meal for myself but my version is slightly different than this. Or should I say, I use to make something I thought was ven pongal 🙂 by adding even cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Now I know my mutated version is not actually ven pongal. I took the pictures after lunch and by then my pongal became slightly dry. It was not dry when I made it and when it was hot.
Tiffin Sambar recipe here
Thenghai Thayir Pachadi recipe here on sunday
Source: Sharmis Passions
Total Time: 30 minutes
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Rice
- ¼ cup Moong Dal
- 4 cups Water
- 5 whole Cashew Nuts, broken into 2-3 pieces
- 2 tablespoon unsalted Butter or Ghee
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Tempering:
- 2-3 teaspoon Oil
- 2 Green Chilies
- ½ teaspoon Black Peppercorns
- 1 – 1 ½ teaspoon Ginger, finely chopped
- 3-4 Curry Leaves
- ⅛ teaspoon Hing ~ asafetida
- Pinch of turmeric
Preparation:
- Dry roast moong dal until light brown. Keep aside.
- Wash rice and moong dal, cook them together in a pressure cooker with 4 cups of water for 4 whistles, until rice and dal are soft and mushy.
- Let the pressure release naturally.
- Take some butter in a pan and roast cashews until golden brown. Remove from butter and keep aside.
- In the same pan add oil and add tempering ingredients except turmeric.. Fry for few minutes until green chilies change color and ginger is lightly roasted.
- Add turmeric powder and remove from fire.
- When the pressure releases, open the cooker, add tempering and cashews. Give a good stir.
- Add remaining butter, stir and serve hot with sambar & chutney.
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Mireille Roc (@ChefMireille) says
I’ve made the ven pongal so know how delicious it is and with those accompaniments must have made a delicious lunch
Gayathri Kumar says
Looks super tempting. You have done it perfect…
Suma Gandlur says
One of my favorite meals. Try adding some milk to pongal at the end. Tthe flavor quotient goes up.
themadscientistskitchen says
I love it. Reminds of our Pondi trip when you ordered pongal. I will prefer it for lunch or dinner. I am going try making this version asap for my lunch,
Pavani says
Love your presentation of the breakfast Usha. Looks very very inviting.
srividhya says
Very nice.. but never had pongal with pickle. Tried it with thokku though
Sandhiya says
Beautifully presented..Love the platter Usha..
Srivalli says
Your breakfast platter is so inviting Usha..very nicely presented!
Pradnya says
reminds me of our breakfast enroute to pondi….beautifully done
sizzlingtastebuds says
Make it almost every week and yet it’s welcome at our dining table ! This combo with sambhar is very tempting !
Sneha datar says
What a comforting and yummy thali.
Sneha datar says
An inviting and tempting spread.
harini says
A very filling and comforting meal there, Usha.
Priya says
Pongal and tiffin sambar is quite enough for me to finish my breakfast happily..
cookingwithsapana says
Very elegant thali Usha.Everything looks so delicious.I like how neat is your presentation.
Vaishali Sabnani says
Beautiful thali . Pongal is a personal favourite and combining it with that gorgeous sambar and chutney surely is tempting me . The pongal looks perfectly made , super one Usha .