Famous Ven Pongal recipe
Ven Pongal recipe
Ven Pongal is a famous recipe from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is one of the popular foods offered as naivedyam to the Goddess Durga and Lakshmi during Varalakshmi puja and Navratri. It is an easy dish and would take less than 30 minutes for its preparation. It can be served for lunch or dinner. Ven Pongal is generally served with chutney and sambar. It’s a tricky recipe and one should know about the right consistency of this dish. Raw rice and moong dal or pasi paruppu (Cheru Payaru Parippu) are the important ingredients used in this recipe. Take a look at the list of ingredients used and the method of preparation of Ven Pongal recipe.
Ingredients used for Ven Pongal
- ½ cup of raw rice
- ½ cup of moong dal / Cheru Payaru Parippu / pesara pappu
- 8-10 cashew nuts
- 1-inch ginger piece (Chopped or grated to small pieces)
- A sprig of curry leaves
- ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds / jeera / jeerakam
- A pinch of Asafoetida / Hing / Kayam
- 1 tablespoon of ghee
- ½ teaspoon of pepper powder
- Turmeric powder as per the requirement
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Preparation of Ven Pongal
- Wash the moong dal in clean water and dry roast it until a nice aroma. (Optional)
- Wash the moong dal and the rice in clean water. Cook it in a pressure cooker along with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. (Usually, it would take 2 whistles)
- When it’s cooked well, switch off the flame and keep it aside for some time.
- Once the pressure is decreased, open the lid of the cooker and add some salt for the taste.
- Heat some ghee in a frying pan and add the cashew nuts for frying.
- When cashew nuts attain a light golden brown texture, take it off from the pan and keep it aside.
- Again heat some ghee in the same pan and add the ginger pieces, fry it till it turns aromatic.
- Now, add the cumin seeds and the peppercorns. Fry it for few seconds and add the turmeric powder and the Asafoetida (hing / kayam)
- Take it off from the flame and add it over the cooked mixture of moong dal and rice.
- Garnish it with the roasted cashew nuts.
- Serve this Pongal recipe with chutney or Sambar.
