Veggie Foodie

Ingredients:

For Ven Pongal

• 1 cup rice such as Jasmin rice or sona masuri rice. You need starchy glutinous rice, so don’t use Basmati rice
• 1 cup moong dal
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1/2 tsp asafetida
• 1 inch ginger piece, finely chopped
• 1 green chili, cut in 4 pieces
• 6 cups water. Ven Pongal is supposed to be soft and hence more water than usual
• 1 tsp salt or to taste

For Tempering

• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 1/2 tsp pepper corns
• 2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 15-20 cashews, broken into pieces
• 15-20 curry leaves

Method:

Ven Pongal

1. Dry roast rice and dal over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Dal should not change its color. Once you feel the nice aroma of the dal turn off the heat and rinse it in water for a couple of times
2. Put instant pot in sauté mode. If using pressure cooker, put on medium heat
3. Melt ghee, add asafetida, finely chopped ginger, green chili pieces and sauté for 30 seconds
4. Add the rice and dal, mix well and sauté for a minute
5. Then add water, salt and start cooking. If you are using Instant Pot, cook in a mode that cooks for 10 minutes under pressure. If using pressure cooker, cook for 4 whistles
6. When you are able to safely open, start preparing the tempering

Tempering

1. Put your tempering pan on medium heat
2. Melt ghee and roast cashews in it. Once the cashews turns golden, add pepper corns, cumin seeds, curry leaves and mix for 30 seconds and then turn off the heat
3. Add the tempering to the pongal and mix well. Feel free to add more ghee at the end to get nicer aroma and taste!
4. Serve Ven pongal hot with chutney, sambar and vada!

Serves: 4

Inspiration source:

https://www.steffisrecipes.com/2017/04/pongal-recipe-ven-pongal-recipe.html

Venkatesh Bhat makes Pongal Gotsu | pongal recipe in Tamil | Ven pongal recipe | Gotsu for pongal – YouTube