Ven Pongal ~ Khara Pongal

Platter of ven pongal, chutney, sambar and pickle.

Ven pongal is a savory rice and lenttil porridge seasoned with blacck pepper and lots of ghee. A breakfast recipe & also an offering to deity in temples.

Course Breakfast, Dinner

Cuisine South Indian Cuisine

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Cooling Time 20

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 437kcal

Author Usha Rao

Equipment

1 Instant Pot
1 Frying Pan
1 Spatula or a Spoon for mixing
1 Knife & Cutting Board

Ingredients

½ cup Rice
¼ cup Moong Dal
3 cups Water
6 whole Cashew Nuts broken into 2-4 pieces
2 tablespoon unsalted Butter or Ghee
1 teaspoon Salt

Tempering:

2 teaspoon Oil
2 Green Chilies
½ teaspoon Black Peppercorns
1 teaspoon Ginger finely chopped
4 Curry Leaves
¼ teaspoon Hing ~ asafetida
Pinch of turmeric

Instructions

Roast moong dal in a pan, on medium flame until dal is light golden brown. Once the pan is hot, color of the dal changes color in seconds. Hence, immediately transfer to a plate and let cool.
Wash roasted dal and rice. Use 3 cups of water, 1:4 rice+dal to water ratio.
Take rice, dal and water in inner pot of Instant Pot. Cook on manual/pressure cook mode for 6 minutes and let pressure release manually. Open the lid and mix rice dal mixture to make it mushy.
For stovetop pressure cooker and saucepan instructions, check in post instructions above the recipe card or check the notes below.
In a pan take some ghee and roast broken cashews until light golden in color and keep aside.
In the same pan, add oil to prepare tempering. First roast black peppers for a few seconds until peppers change color. This is important to mellow down the spice level of peppercorns.
Then add ginger, green chilies, cumin, curry leaves and let these roast for a few seconds.
Add turmeric powder, asafetida , mix and remove from fire.
Wash rice and moong dal, cook in a pressure cooker with 4 cups of water for 4 whistles, until rice and dal are soft and mushy.
Pour the tempering over cooked rice dal mixture, add roasted cashews, remaining ghee, salt and mix it all together.
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 a few minutes until green chilies change color and ginger is lightly roasted.
Add turmeric powder and remove from the fire.
Pour tempering over cooked rice dal mixture, add cashews, remaining butter or ghee and give a good stir.
Serve hot with sambar & chutney.

Notes

Indian Pressure Cooker - cook rice and dal for 4 whistles or until rice and dal are soft and mushy. In my Hawkins cooker, 4 whistles works just fine. Let the pressure release naturally. For more detailed instructions, check stovetop instructions above.
Saucepan or a vessel - cook washed rice and dal in 4 times the water the quantity of rice+dal. Once the rice mixture comes to a boil, reduce the flame to medium or medium low and cook half covered until the mixture is soft and mushy. Add more water, if required. This will easily take at last 30 minutes.
One Pot Dish - the details in above.
Roasting Dal - highly recommend dry roasting dal before cooking.
Peppercorns - use whole peppercorn and roast them properly in tempering to reduce the spice level. If you can not eat whole peppercorns, use half whole and half coarsely crushed peppers.
Ghee - be generous with ghee. You can add more ghee than mentioned in the recipe card.

Nutrition