Ven Pongal
Ven Pongal is a warm, comforting South Indian breakfast made from rice and moong dal, gently seasoned with ghee (nope, generously....., I meant the ghee part :) cumin, pepper, ginger, and cashews. Soft and flavorful, it pairs perfectly with chutney, sambar, and of course to be served with a tumbler of filter kaapi.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Ponni raw rice (OR) Sona Masoori
- ½ cup Split Yellow Moong Dal
Seasoning
- 4 tbsp Ghee to roast rava
- 2 tsp Jeera (Cumin seeds)
- 1 tsp Whole Black Pepper
- 1 Green chili split in half
- 2 tbsp Minced Ginger
- 1-2 tsp Salt
- 6 - 7 cups Water
- 20 Cashews broken into smaller pieces
Instructions
Let's cook!!
- Wash rice and dal together till the water runs clear. Drain and keep it aside.
- Turn on Instant pot in Saute mode, heat half the ghee in it. When hot, add jeera, black pepper, green chilies, ginger, curry leaves and saute for a few seconds till you get an aroma of everything.
- Now add rice and dal to the Instant pot. Mix it well.
- Cancel Saute mode. Add salt and water and mix it well.
- Set up the Instant pot to 'Pressure - high' 'Time - 8 mins' and manually release the pressure after 20 mins.
- Rice and dal will be well cooked. Mix and mash it up. Taste test for salt and add a bit more if needed.
Now comes the best part....
- Heat the remaining ghee in a pan, add broken cashews and roast till golden and add it to the hot pongal and mix it well.
- Serve it hot with coconut chutney, sambar and/or vadai, but for sure with filter kaapi. Divine.....
💛 Lakshmi's Tips
- Add a little hot water to the pongal if you want it a bit more softer.
- Replace rice with millets and follow the same recipe but the water used should be a cup lesser than this or else it will be runny like Karnataka style :)
- I use only ghee for Pongal recipes because it gives an excellent flavor and I love ghee 🙂 You can also half oil if you are conscious.