
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
- 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
- Put instant pot in sauté mode. If using pressure cooker, put on medium heat
- Melt ghee, add asafetida, finely chopped ginger, green chili pieces and sauté for 30 seconds
- Add the rice and dal, mix well and sauté for a minute
- 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
- When you are able to safely open, start preparing the tempering
Tempering
- Put your tempering pan on medium heat
- 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
- Add the tempering to the pongal and mix well. Feel free to add more ghee at the end to get nicer aroma and taste!
- 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