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Try out these delicious Pongal varieties
Rich, flavourful, sweet or savoury — Pongal is one of the favourite South Indian breakfast options. Here are a few variations of the classic tiffin.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
Come January and it’s time for the harvest festival in many parts of India known by different names: Pongal in Tamil Nadu; Lohri in Punjab; Bhogali Bihu in Assam; Makar Sankranti in regions like Chattisgarh, Goa, Odisha, Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and other parts of the country.
Pongal is celebrated through the first four days of the Tamil month of Thai (mid-January to mid-February). It is a harvest festival. The word ‘Pongal’, which literally means ‘boiling over’, refers to rice cooked in milk and jaggery. It is prepared in new big earthen pots called ‘Pongal Panai’ in the open and allowed to boil over signifying prosperity and bountifulness of crops. It is a festival honouring and giving thanks to the gods — especially Surya, the Sun God and Indra, the Rain God and the cattle for the plentiful paddy crops in the field during the mild winter months in South India. Two varieties of Pongal- the savoury one known as ‘ven pongal’ and the sweet one known as ‘sarkkarai pongal’ are prepared on the second day.
Here we present recipes of a few varieties of Pongal, specially given out by Chitra Viswanathan of the cooking app, Ask Chitvish.
Samai Sarkarai Pongal (Millet Pongal)
Ingredients
Samai: ½ cup
Moong dhal: 1 tbsp
Water + milk: 1 ½ cups
Powdered jaggery: 1 cup
Ghee: 4 tsp Cardamom and ginger powders, each: ½ tsp
Nuts of your choice to garnish
Method
- Roast samai and dhal lightly in a dry pan.
- Soak for 15 mins, after washing well.
- Drain and cook with milk-water mixture in a vessel inside pressure cooker.
- After the first whistle comes, cook on sim for 10 mins. Let it cool, open and lightly mash.
- Mix jaggery with ¼ cup water. Simmer to boil and strain.
- When it boils to a syrup-form, add the cooked mixture with spices and add two teaspoon ghee. Mix well.
- Remove from the flame, add nuts roasted in 2 tsp ghee.
- Serve hot.
Ingredients
Rice: 1 cup urad dhal (whole & white)
Water: 2 1/2 cups
Asafoetida: 1/2 tsp
Salt as per taste
Oil +ghee: 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp
Pepper, jeera coarsely powdered: 2 tsp
Few cashew nuts
Few curry leaves
Method
- Mix and cook 1/2 cup urad dhal with water, asafoetida and salt in a pressure cooker. Put water in such a way that the grains do not stick to each other. This pongal should not be mushy.
- Heat oil+ghee. Temper with pepper, jeera powder, chopped cashew and curry leaves.
- Add the pongal and toss to mix.
- Serve hot. This goes with any chutney.
Lapsi and Sprout Pongal
Ingredients
Lapsi or wheat upma rava: 1 cup
Sprouts, preferably fresh: 1 cup or less
Water: 2 ½-3 cups ( depending on your desired consistency)
Oil and ghee: 3-4 tsp
Salt: As per taste
Asafoetida: As per taste
To temper:
Mustard seeds, urad and gram dhal: Each 2 tsp
Red chillies: 2
Curry leaves: 3 to 4
Pepper, jeera powder coarsely powdered: 2-3 tsp
Ginger, chopped: 2 tsp
Method
- In a pressure cooker, heat oil + ghee.
- Temper all the mentioned ingredients.
- Then add wheat rava and roast on a low flame for 5 mins.
- Next add sprouts , water, salt and asafoetida.
- When the entire mixture start boiling, close the cooker and keep the weight.
- Do not wait for whistle, cook on slow fire and switch off after 10 mins.
- Let it cool, open and serve hot.
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