Ven Pongal

Ven pongal - many of our favourite weekend breakfast dishes. Ven pongals are easy to prepare, but they must be prepared with proper measurements to get perfect results.

Start your ven pongal by roasting the dals in a pan. There are two ways to roast the dals, but my favourite is dry roasting the dals well until you can smell a nice aroma from the moong dal that produces a nice flavour to the entire dish. It won't take longer than a minute to roast the dals, so do not omit the step. After roasting the dals we have to add it to the raw rice and cook them in a pressure cooker. Like many of my pressure cooker recipes, I recommend to soak the rice and dal for 20 minutes for perfect results. Next, we will see the water level for venpongal. Usually for venpongal, use 3 to 3.5 cups of water for 1 cup of raw rice, but you may need to practice the amount your pressure cooker requires for the particular dishes. If you add more water for venpongal, it gives you stickier rice, which may take more time to settle down without any moisture. The other important step for venpongal is we have to stir the cooked venpongal with a good amount of ghee in a heavy bottomed kadai.

Side dishes for Ven Pongal

Ven Pongal Recipe

Prep time : 10 minutes
Cook time : 20 minutes
Serves : 4
Category : tiffin
Author : Muthulakshmi Madhavakrishnan

Ingredients

1 cup raw rice
1/4 cup moong dal
3 cups water
1 tsp black pepper
1.5 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tbsp chopped ginger
few curry leaves
10 broken cashew nuts
1/4 cup ghee
salt to taste

Cooking Directions

Heat a pan for about two minutes, add the moong dal. Stir well for a few minutes until the dal starts to turn brown. When you get a nice aroma, turn off the heat.
Transfer it in a vessel and add the rice. Combine them and rinse it in the water for 3 times and soak it with 3 cups of water for 20 minutes.
Take a small chutney jar and powder the black pepper and cumin coarsely.
After 20 minutes add a tbsp of ghee and required salt to the soaked rice and close it with the lid
Keep the cooker on medium heat and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Allow the pressure to settle down naturally.Open the pressure cooker and gently mash the cooked rice with a ladle.
Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed kadai. When the ghee is heated enough, add the broken cashew nuts, chopped ginger and curry leaves.
When the cashew nuts turn golden brown, reduce the heat to low and add the cooked rice. After few minutes, add the powdered cumin, black pepper.
Stir it well and add the asafoetida powder or water. Cook for a few more minutes and turn off the heat.

Ven Pongal with step by step photos

Heat a pan for about two minutes, add the moong dal. Stir well for a few minutes until the dal starts to turn brown. When you get a nice aroma, turn off the heat. Keep it in the pan heat for a few minutes.

Transfer it to a vessel and add the rice. Combine them and rinse it in the water for 3 times and soak it with 3 cups of water for 20 minutes.

Take a small chutney jar and powder the black pepper and cumin coarsely.

After 20 minutes, transfer the soaked rice and dals to the pressure cooker and add a tbsp of ghee and required salt to the soaked rice and close it with the lid. Keep the cooker on medium heat and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Allow the pressure to settle down naturally.

Open the pressure cooker and gently mash the cooked rice with a ladle.

Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed kadai. Homemade ghee tastes more good for this ven pongal.

When the ghee is heated enough, add the broken cashew nuts, chopped ginger and curry leaves.

When the cashew nuts turn golden brown, reduce the heat to low and add the cooked rice. After few minutes add the powdered cumin black pepper.

Stir it well and add the asafoetida powder or water.

Cook for a few more minutes and turn off the heat. Transfer the pongal to the serving dish and serve it hot with chutney and sambar.

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