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.

Comments

Tirunelveli Kootanchoru - Mixed vegetables rice with dals and spices

Kootanchoru is a popular lunch dish from Tirunelveli. This is our family favourite rice and it is rich in nutrients as it contains lots of vegetables and dals. We prepare this rice frequently for special events and family get togethers. In most of Tirunelveli dishes we use small onions, garlic, coconut and generous amount of jeera. In this dish also we have used coconut small onion paste and good amount of fresh vegetables. We add commonly used vegetables such as raw banana, brinjals, drumsticks, carrots, beans and potatoes. I have learned this recipe from my grandma. She taught me with her some useful tips and techniques about how to cook, when to add the ingredients and how to choose the correct vegetables. My son named as Tirunelveli biriyani for this rice. Now let's see how to prepare this kootanchoru with step by step photos. Here is a short video for Tirunelveli Kootanchoru

Collection of Kuzhambu varieties for lunch

KUZHAMBU RECIPES, 20 KUZHAMBU RECIPES FOR LUNCH Kuzhambus are the foundation for a good lunch in South Indian cuisine. Although there are many rice varieties in South Indian cuisine, a bowl of rice and kuzhambu with any vegetable side dish makes our tummy happy. In this collection, I have shared many traditional Tirunelveli kuzhambu recipes. I have suggested authentic ingredients and spices in my kuzhambu recipes. If you find any spices are inconvenient, you may change according to your taste. Now let's see the collection of kuzhambu recipes here. Click on the pictures or the recipe here to view the recipe details with step by step instructions. Collection of Kuzhambu varieties for lunch 1. Sodhi - Sodhi is one of Tirunelveli's traditional and popular kuzhambu.This kuzhambu is a special menu on the next day of marriage. A Tirunelveli wedding meal would not be complete without this Sodhi, potato poriyal and ginger chutney. RECIPE HERE. 2. Pulikuzh

Street Style Vegetable Fried Rice - Quick Recipe of Veg Fried Rice Street Food Style

Today we are going to see an interesting street style vegetable fried rice with simple cooking techniques. For the past twenty years, vegetable fried rice and pani puri have been a favourite food for many of us. Everywhere we can see, these two dishes are the stars of the street food. One day during our trip to Tirumala, I learnt this street style vegetable fried rice from a street food vendor. He prepared varieties of fried rice within a few minutes, very casually. As he was preparing, I saw exactly how it was done. There's something magical about eating hot fried rice on the streets.The sound of the street vendors tossing the tang tang with their wok is always enjoyable to me. How to make street style vegetable fried rice in your home kitchen You can use basmati rice or long grain rice. Always prefer the open pot method to cook the rice for fried rice. The texture will be perfect with less stickiness. Brands such as Unity and India Gate are perfect for fried rice. You can use s

Seppankizhangu Poriyal - Taro Root (Arbi) Fry

Seppankizhangu Poriyal - this poriyal is prepared with taro root, chilly powder, small onions cumin garlic paste and perfectly roasted in an iron kadai. The best cooking method for this taro root poriyal is to cook the taro roots in an open vessel for 10 minutes on medium heat with a good amount of water. No one likes a mushy taro root, so just keep an eye on it and check them for doneness by inserting a knife. If you cook taro roots in a pressure cooker, it will be too soft and turns mushy. For these types of roast dishes, low heat and long cooking times are important for its texture. The small onions cumin garlic paste, adds flavour to the taro roots. Roasting the taro roots in an iron kadai creates an excellent flavour and texture. Similar recipes Vazhaikkai Thuvattal - Raw Banana (Plantain) Stir Fry Mithi Paavakai Poriyal - Baby Bitter Gourd Stir Fry Vazhaikkai Poriyal - Raw Banana (Plantain) Poriyal Brinjal (Egg Plant) Stir Fry - Kathirikkai Poriyal Elephant Foot Yam St

Wheat Rava Kichadi With Vegetables - Samba Godhuma Rava Kichadi - Healthy Breakfast

A healthy diabetic friendly kichadi recipe made with wheat rava. You can start your breakfast with a cup of this healthy kichadi as it includes carrot, green peas and beans which blend together beautifully with wheat rava. A handful of fresh green peas gives a slightly sweet taste for the kichadi. There are two main varieties of wheat rava - medium coarse and fine coarse. Fine coarse wheat rava is my favourite for kichadi and upma dishes. Medium coarse wheat rava is perfect for sweet pongal and payasam. Both types require more time to cook when compared to regular white rava. Fine coarse wheat rava doesn't need to be roasted for this kichadi. To cook 1 cup fine coarse wheat rava you will need 3 cups of water. After preparing the kichadi you should let it stand for 15 minutes, covered and undisturbed for a perfect fluffy texture. And once you find how to cook wheat rava perfectly, you will be making it regularly for your breakfast. Check out my other tiffin recipes here Idli Black

Mushroom Gravy With Curd - Mushroom Curd Masala

Mushroom Gravy with Curd recipe with full video and step by step pictures. This mushroom gravy preparation is little different from other gravies. As the name suggests this gravy is prepared using thick curd and the ground masala paste is made with onions, green chillies, garlic, ginger, poppy seeds, pepper and whole garam masala. The addition of whole garam masala cinnamon, cloves, fennel and cardamom makes the gravy aromatic. This gravy is a good variation from our usual kurma and masala. For this gravy there is no need for tomatoes, cashew nuts and red chilly powder. This is a quick and easy gravy recipe with a few ingredients. Spices - you will need bay leaf, cumin, kasuri methi leaves and coriander leaves. For the masala paste onions, ginger, garlic, green chilly, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, cardamom and poppy seeds. Poppy seeds are added to give thickness for the gravy. In the final stage, half teaspoon garam masala powder is sprinkled for flavour but you omit it.

Collection of Poriyal & Thoran - South Indian Vegetable Side Dishes for Lunch

Every day we prepare two varieties of vegetable side dishes for our lunch. Among those two varieties there must be a poriyal dish and the other one is kootu, aviyal or varuval. Varieties of poriyal dishes are countless with our seasonal vegetables. As I said in my poriyal or thuvaram dishes, we add the ground coconut mixture prepared with coconut, small onions, garlic cloves and red chilly or green chilly. This unique coconut paste is often used in our poriyal or thuvaram dishes. Some prefer to add grated coconut or desiccated coconut powder for poriyal dishes. I actually don't like poriyal dishes made without any flavours. For me, poriyal must have a mix of flavours with perfect textures. We usually precook the vegetables in a vessel (except for keerai poriyal) and then we saute it with the tempering ingredients and finished with our coconut mixture. If you find it difficult to precook the vegetables, you can prepare as you like. But actually pre cooking the

Roadside Mochai Masala - Tirunelveli Style Mochai Recipe

This is the popular street food recipe from Tirunelveli called mochai. A healthy semi dry gravy with mochai prepared in streetside pushcarts across many places in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin. Until recently I never had a chance to taste this mochai but my husband tasted it many times during their school days. During last month's trip to Tirunelveli, we tasted this mochai masala near Murappanaadu river. It was delicious and my son asked me to prepare this mochai for his snack box. This roadside mochai masala is made with boiled mochai beans (Lima beans), lots of onions, ginger and green chillies. As mochai beans have a slightly bitter taste, hence you have to use plenty of onions for this masala . You have to use dried mochai for this masala. To spice up this masala you have to add a good amount of green chillies and ginger which gives a nice flavour and tastes yummy. This mochai masala makes a filling and comforting dish for breakfast or evening snack. I prepared this mochai in a

Easy Milk Sweet - Instant milk sweet with kova, condensed milk and sugar

Easy milk sweet - prepared with condensed milk, unsweetned kova, powdered sugar and ghee. You can easily prepare this milk cake within 30 minutes. Traditionally milk sweets are prepared with milk, which will take more time. We like almost any sweets based on milk products, but most of the milk sweets require some time and patience. So for a change, I planned to prepare an instant and easy milk sweet for this Diwali with unsweetened kova and condensed milk. The taste is similar to the regular milk sweet, and my son Siva enjoying it very much. Sure to become your favourite milk sweet also. To make this easy milk sweet you need unsweetened kova, condensed milk, cardamom powder, powdered sugar, chopped pistachio nuts and ghee. The kova are sauted in ghee for a few minutes and then mixed with the condensed milk. The kova dough will look like milk halwa and when it gets thick the powdered sugar are mixed well. We have to mix the powdered sugar in two stages so that the sugar will be e

Collection of side dishes for lunch

Collection of side dishes for lunch Here is a collection of vegetable side dishes like thuvaram, kootu, aviyal, pachadi, puttu etc for your everyday lunch. All the dishes are very easy and healthy.

VIRUNDHOMBAL

Search This Blog