Pongal (white rice, moong dal cooked with spices)
Often the best things in our world are also the simplest. They demand very little from us and yet give us the most joy. Pongal (in Tamil) is one such thing. This simple, easy and quick to make dish comes in two versions: Sweet and Savoury. Pongal uses small sized white rice and moong dal as main ingredients with a rich topping of nuts, spices and ghee (clarified butter) via a process Indians call “tempering”. Pongal is so much loved in Southern India and so delicious that it is often served to the gods as an offering. People relish this amazing dish both on regular days and also on festive occasions, with coconut chutney by the side and lot of joy and pleasure.
Ingredients
1 bowl of white rice (preferably something that is small in size but any white rice is good)
1 bowl of yellow split moong dal
Cashews
Black pepper
Cloves
Curry leaves
Cumin seeds whole
Fresh ginger, size of a thumb
Ghee (or clarified butter)
Salt
Preparation
- Wash both the moong dal and white rice well enough so that water looks transparent.
- In a cooking pot, heat some ghee or clarified butter. Then add the washed moon dal and stir it in the ghee and fry until it smells of fried moon dal. Don’t over fry and make it brown. Keep it golden yellow.
- Then add the washed white rice to the pot and stir the rice together in the ghee for a min and add 4 bowls of water. Add salt as needed and cover the pot and let the rice and dal cook together.
- Switch off the heat when both rice and dal are very well cooked (even a bit overcooked) so that the grains become soft and crush easily. Also add more water if rice looks dry. Pongal is generally slightly mushy in consistency.
- Now for the tempering process, heat 3 tablespoons of ghee to a pan. Then add cumin seeds (0.75 teaspoon), cashews, black peppers (5-7 pinches), cloves (2 pinches) and the curry leaves. Stir it in the ghee and let all fry in the ghee. Add some grated ginger now and stir in the pan on low heat.
- When the spices look brown or golden yellow, transfer the content into the rice pot. Mix it all together with a ladle. Pongal is ready to be served.
Variant
Pongal is also made in its sweet version in which sugar is added to the rice and moong dal when it is being cooked so that it melts uniformly throughout. In the North of India and other parts, another version of rice and moong dal dish known as “Khichdi” is cooked in a slightly different style in a pot together with potatoes and vegetables of choice such as beans, cauliflowers, carrots etc instead of nuts and spices. Khichdi also uses ghee on top for the flavour.
Serve
Pongal is a extremely tasty main dish that can be enjoyed just alone. However, some chutneys especially the coconut (Thengai in Tamil) chutney add a heavenly feel to the meal. One can also enjoy pongal with some poppadams and Pickles on the side.