Ven pongal

Ven pongal is a common and popular breakfast in Tamilnadu. Generally, Ven pongal is served with coconut chutney, sambar and vadai. It is a very simple yet tastier dish. Ven pongal can be cooked in two ways. One is adding the seasoning after cooking rice and dal. The other is doing the reverse way. Adding seasoning to the uncooked rice and dal, then cooking. In this way, the pongal color may look more darker than the first way of cooking.You can customize the seasoning according to your taste.


Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup (uncooked)
Green gram dal(split) - 1/2 cup(Roasted)
Salt - to taste
Ghee and Oil - 2 to 3 teaspoons
Water - exact 6 cups.(4 times of the measurement of rice and dal)

For seasoning:
Cashew nuts - 5 to 7
Red chilies-2
Hing - a pinch
Cumin seeds - 2 teaspoon
Peppercorns - 1 ½ teaspoon
Curry leaves -little

Preparation:

1.Heat very little ghee or oil in a pan. Add split green gram dal and fry till it turns into light brown. Remove from heat.

2.Wash rice and roasted dal in water.Add 1 tsp of oil and season the items given for seasoning.Add Rice and dal together with salt in pressure cooker or in a vessel. To cook in pressure cooker, add 6 cups of water and leave for 3 whistles. Once the steam is released from the cooker remove the lid.

3.Add 2 tsp of ghee,along with add 1/4 of cup of milk to increase its richness.
Note:the above said should be added immedietly after the lid is opened.

4.It goes well with sambar and chutney.