Pongal

 

Ingredients:
3/4 cup    Raw rice [ pacharisi ]
1/4 cup    Green gram split
1 1/2 Tsp    Cumin seeds
1 Tsp    Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp    Black Pepper powder
1/4 Tsp    Turmeric powder
1 or 2    Green chilly, split lengthwise [ optional ]
10 - 15    Curry leaves
3 cloves    Garlic, nicely chop
1 Tsp    Ginger nicely chopped

To Temper:
4 to 5    Cashew nuts
1 Tsp    Cumin seeds
1 Tsp    Black Pepper
8 - 10    Curry leaves
3 Tsp    Ghee

Method :
Wash Rice & Paruppu thoroughly.
Put washed Rice, Paruppu & all other ingredients in a Pressure Cooker.
Add 3 1/4 Cups of water.
Keep on High flame with weight ON.
After 1 Whistle keep burner to SIM & allow it to cook for 5 to 7 mins.

Turn off the stove. Open the lid of the cooker only after steam has come down.

In the meantime heat a kadai on a stove over slow flame with a tsp of ghee.
Crackle cumin and the add pepper corns.
Finally add curry leaves once the pepper starts crackling.
Now open the cooker.
Transfer the tempering into the pongal.
Again heat the kadai with 1 Tsp of ghee.
Fry cashew nuts till golden and transfer into the pongal.
Now add 1 Tsp of pepper powder also into the pongal.
Mix well adding one or two teaspoon of ghee.

Take one ladle full of Pongal in a plate & top it with Ghee.
Eat when its very very hot with Coconut Chutney or Sambar or Thuvaiyal or Curd or Sugar.

Other Variants:
Rawa(Sooji) Pongal, Samba Rawa Pongal, Oats Pongal.

Rawa & Soft Oats take lesser time to cook. So it is advisable to cook dhal beforehand.

All the measurements are same except that add 31/2 cups of water for Rawa and 2 - 21/2 cups for oats.