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Foxtail Millet Pongal - Thinai Arisi Ven Pongal

Thinai arisi pongal - easy millet breakfast dish made with foxtail millet, moong dal flavoured with cumin, pepper and ginger in ghee. It's healthy and filling breakfast. It's also a wonderful breakfast for your weekend.

While the recipe for making thinai arisi pongal is the basic ven pongal recipe with a few techniques I have found after experimenting with it so many times. Because each millets have a unique texture and taste and we have to cook correctly to get perfect results. If you are new to the millets, then this ven pongal is a good recipe to start. In general, thinai arisi takes more time to cook when compared to other millets. The ideal water ratio for this ven pongal  is 4 cups of water for 1 cup of foxtail millet. If the dals and millets are soaked together for 15 minutes, you can get a creamy soft pongal. The perfectly cooked millets must be easy to fluff. I didn't like cooking the millets in a mushy texture because it won't taste and look good. The addition of ghee, cashew nuts, crushed pepper, cumin, curry leaves, ginger and asafoetida make it more lingering taste to the pongal. Now let's see how to prepare Thinai arisi pongal with step by step instructions.

Tiffin recipes



Thinai Arisi Ven Pongal  Recipe Details


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Prep time : 20 minutes
Cook time : 25 minutes
Serves : 4
Category : tiffin
Author : Muthulakshmi Madhavakrishnan

Ingredients
  • 1 cup foxtail millet
  • 1/2 cup moong dal
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
  • 10 broken cashew nuts
  • 1 tsp asafoetida powder
  • few curry leaves
  • 1/4 cup ghee
  • salt to taste
Cooking Directions
  1. Heat a kadai for 2 minutes and add the moong dal. Roast the dal well for a few minutes, until you get a nice aroma.
  2. In a vessel, measure and add the foxtail millet. Combine the roasted dal along with the millet. Rinse it for a couple of times and pour 1 cup of water to it. Let the millets and dal to soak for 15 minutes.
  3. After 15 minutes, add the remaining 3 cups of water and add it in a pressure cooker. Add the required salt and 1 tbsp of ghee. Mix well and close it with a lid.
  4. Pressure cook for 3 to 5 whistles and simmer for 5 minutes. Take a small chutney jar and grind the cumin and pepper coarsely.
  5. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed kadai and add coarsely powdered cumin and black pepper, cashew nuts, chopped ginger and curry leaves. When all the ingredients are roasted well in the ghee, reduce the heat and add the cooked rice and dal.
  6. Add the asafoetida powder and stir well for a few minutes. In the final stage, add some more ghee and stir it well for 5 minutes and turn off the heat.


Thinai Arisi Ven Pongal with step by step photos 

Heat a kadai for 2 minutes and add the moong dal. Roast the dal well for a few minutes, until you get a nice aroma. Turn off the heat.


In a vessel, measure and add the foxtail millet. Combine the roasted dal along with the millet. Rinse it for a couple of times and pour 1 cup of water to it. Let the millets and dal to soak for 15 minutes.


 After 15 minutes, add the remaining 3 cups of water and add it in a pressure cooker. Add the required salt and 1 tbsp of ghee. Mix well and close it with a lid.


Pressure cook for 3 to 5 whistles and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to settle down naturally. Open the pressure cooker and check that they are cooked well.  Take a small chutney jar and grind the cumin and pepper coarsely.

Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed kadai and add coarsely powdered cumin and black pepper, cashew nuts, chopped ginger and curry leaves. When all the ingredients are roasted well in the ghee, reduce the heat and add the cooked rice and dal.


 Add the asafoetida powder and stir well for a few minutes. In the final stage, add some more ghee and stir it well for 5 minutes and turn off the heat.



Transfer the ven pongal to the serving dish.


Healthy and tasty Thinai arisi ven pongal is ready to serve. Serve it hot with sambar or chutney.




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