Ven Pongal

My family enjoys Ven Pongal for both breakfast and dinner. This is one of the few dishes both my kids will eat without complaining. This recipe has an equal amount of carbs, protein, and other spices, so one doesn’t have to worry about eating too much carbs.

Desika Products:

Raw Rice, Moong Dal, Peanut Oil, Cashews, Black Pepper Corn, Gluten Free Hing

RECIPE FOR VEN PONGAL

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Raw Rice – 1 cup

Split Moong Dal Yellow- ¾ cup

Ginger – 1 inch

Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon

Pepper Corn - 1 teaspoon

Asafoetida  - 2 to 3 pinches

Ghee – 3 to 4 tablespoons

Curry Leaves – 2 sprigs

Cashews – 20 nos

Water – 3.5 to 4 cups

Instructions:

1. Dry roast the moong dal until in a pan/kadai for 3 to 5 mins. Make sure not to burn it

2. In a pressure pan – wash the raw rice and add the roasted moong dal. To that, add 3.5-4 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of ghee, 1/4th spoon of jeera, asafoetida and some salt

3. Pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles and let it sit until the pressure releases

4. In the meantime, peel the skin of the ginger and grate it.

5. To prepare the seasoning - In a small pan, add 2 tbsp. of ghee. Once it is melted, add the grated ginger, cumin seeds, peppercorn, and cashews and saute for 2-3 mins or until the cashews turn golden brown. Make sure not to burn the cumin and peppercorn. Once done, add curry leaves to this.

6. Take the pressure-cooked dal and rice and add the seasoning prepared in Step 5. Adjust the salt if needed.

7. Yummy Ven Pongal is ready to serve. We usually eat Ven Pongal with fresh coconut chutney or pickle

Tips & Tricks:

• Don’t skip dry roasting the moong dal as it gives nice aroma to the Pongal

• If you don’t like pepper corn, crush it before adding to the seasoning

• Last but not least, ghee is not bad to health when eaten in moderation. If you don’t like lot of ghee substitute with oil.