Name: Ven Pongal (Khara Pongal)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: ⅓ cup Short Grain Rice, Sona Masoori or raw rice, washed; ⅓ cup Split Yellow Mung Beans, split yellow gram, washed; 2⅓ cup Water, for pressure cooking; ⅔ tsp Salt, to taste; 2 tbsp Ghee, generous amount needed for authentic taste; 1 tsp Black Peppercorns, lightly crushed; ⅔ tsp Cumin Seeds, lightly crushed; ⅔ tsp Ginger, finely chopped or grated; ⅔ Green Chili Pepper, slit; 8 Cashews, broken; 10 Curry Leaves; ⅛ tsp Asafoetida

30 mintotal

Prep 5 min · Cook 25 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: Mild

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Method

Start with the flavour: dry-roast the yellow moong dal in a small ungreased pan over low heat for 3-4 minutes. It should smell deeply nutty but must not brown at all. Then wash it thoroughly along with the raw rice.
3–4 min
Put the washed rice and the roasted moong dal into a heavy pressure cooker. Cover them completely with the water and add the salt. Close the lid and seal it.
Cook over medium heat for 4-5 whistles. This dish needs the grains cooked well past the usual point: they have to break down, unlike rice you want to keep fluffy.
Let the pressure drop on its own, then open the cooker. Straight away, take a sturdy spoon and mash the hot rice and dal hard, breaking up the grains until you have a smooth, porridge-like consistency.
Make the tempering (tadka): heat the ghee over medium-low heat in a small pan with a thick base.
Add the broken cashews to the hot ghee. Fry them, watching closely, until they are an even light golden. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and set them aside.
Drop the coarsely cracked black peppercorns and the crushed cumin seeds into the remaining hot ghee. Give them 10 seconds of sizzling to release their heat into the fat.
10 sec
Follow straight away with the minced ginger, slit green chilli, fresh curry leaves and the asafoetida (hing). Fry them briefly, just until the kitchen fills with their smell.
Pour this sizzling, fragrant ghee straight over the mashed rice and dal. Stir the golden cashews back in.
Fold it all together thoroughly with a spatula. Keep going until the porridge has taken up every drop of the spiced ghee and turned rich and glossy.
Demand presentation and consumption while the dish radiates maximum thermal output.

How to tell it's done

An incredibly soft, creamy, and buttery porridge-like texture that slides down the throat, punctuated by sudden crunches of golden cashews and sharp hits of black pepper.

Nutrition

Per serving, from 2 servings.

390kcal

Where the calories come from

Protein11.6 g12%
Carbohydrate50.5 g51%
Fat16 g37%

Saturated fat: 8.3 g
Sodium: 793 mg
Calcium: 88 mg
Iron: 3.6 mg

Estimated by calculation from the ingredient list, using USDA FoodData Central. Not a laboratory analysis.

Getting it right

Tip

Dry roasting the moong dal first prevents it from becoming a sticky paste and imparts a deep, nutty flavor. Coarsely crushing the pepper and cumin releases far more flavor than leaving them whole.

What to serve it with

A legendary temple food and breakfast staple. Must be served with Coconut Chutney and Tiffin Sambar.

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Ingredients