This is for my friend Rathi. She says the pongal I had made the other day tasted very nice and according to her - "it had the stamp of Iyengar pongal J . So here we go:
Required:
Rice – 1 Cup
Moong dhal (Pyatham Parupu) – 1 Cup
Pepper – 1 Tsp.
Jeera – 2 Tsp.
Hing – a pinch
Turmeric – 1 pinch (optional)
Salt – as per taste
Curry leaves – 4 – 5 leaves
Green Chilli – 1No.
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Water – 1 :2 ( 1 cup rice and dhal means 2 cups water)
Ghee – 2 - 4 Tbs.
Cashew - as many as u want J
Preparation of Seasoning / Tadka:
Powder the pepper and jeera in a mixer (dry powder). Heat ghee in a tava and add the ground powder, curry leaves, cashews roast for 1 min. Add hing and take it out of fire. Keep it aside.
Preparation of Pongal:
Heat 1 tsp. of ghee in a fry pan, add the Moong dhal and fry for 2 mins. Or until you get the roasted smell (very light brown). Mix the roasted dhal and rice in the cooker. Add 4 cups of water, salt and green chilli. Lightly crush the ginger and put it in the cooker. Switch on the cooker and pressure cook for 4 – 5 whistles. Simmer for 2 mins and switch off the cooker.
Once the pressure goes down, open the cooker. Add the seasoning/tadka. Mix well. If needed you can add more water and simmer for a minute or two.
Notes :
Serves – 3 – 4 people. Eat it hot with coconut chutney and Brinjal gotsu or Moong dhal sambar.
Rice – 1 Cup
Moong dhal (Pyatham Parupu) – 1 Cup
Pepper – 1 Tsp.
Jeera – 2 Tsp.
Hing – a pinch
Turmeric – 1 pinch (optional)
Salt – as per taste
Curry leaves – 4 – 5 leaves
Green Chilli – 1No.
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Water – 1 :2 ( 1 cup rice and dhal means 2 cups water)
Ghee – 2 - 4 Tbs.
Cashew - as many as u want J
Preparation of Seasoning / Tadka:
Powder the pepper and jeera in a mixer (dry powder). Heat ghee in a tava and add the ground powder, curry leaves, cashews roast for 1 min. Add hing and take it out of fire. Keep it aside.
Preparation of Pongal:
Heat 1 tsp. of ghee in a fry pan, add the Moong dhal and fry for 2 mins. Or until you get the roasted smell (very light brown). Mix the roasted dhal and rice in the cooker. Add 4 cups of water, salt and green chilli. Lightly crush the ginger and put it in the cooker. Switch on the cooker and pressure cook for 4 – 5 whistles. Simmer for 2 mins and switch off the cooker.
Once the pressure goes down, open the cooker. Add the seasoning/tadka. Mix well. If needed you can add more water and simmer for a minute or two.
Notes :
1. I do not cut the Ginger, since I don’t like to eat Ginger , but it is required for the Pongal preparation. This way after cooking, I take the ginger piece from the rice and throw it.
2. If you are health conscious and want to reduce the amount of ghee, you can replace 1/2 of it with cooking oil. Use oil and ghee mixture only when making the tadka/seasoning.
3. You can also add the tadka/ seasoning in the cooker and then pressure cook.
4. You can also use whole peppesr and powder only the jeera. (I powder the pepper so that it will not be not be wasted ). Also while using whole pepper you need to add little more to get the spice.
5. Again if you are health conscious, you need not add roasted cashew.
6. The same method is used while making in electric rice cooker also.
Serves – 3 – 4 people. Eat it hot with coconut chutney and Brinjal gotsu or Moong dhal sambar.
Equal measures of moong and rice does give it a wonderful taste as against lesser moong.
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