Venn Pongal

Volume

Serving for 3 people.

Ingredients

- 1/3 tumbler moong daal
- 2/3 tumbler rice
- 3.5 tumblers water + 1 tumbler water
- 4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 green chillis
- 2 red chillis (dried)
- 2 tsp pepper (whole)
- 1 tbsp ghee + 3 tbsp ghee
- 1 tbsp cashews

Other Requirements

- Pressure cooker
- Crusher
- Large sauce pan + ladel
- Masher

Steps to Prepare

1. Cook the Pongal

  1. Take 1/3 aazhakku of moong daal and add it to the sauce pan and heat. Do not add oil or anything else to the sauce pan. Heat until a distinct smell comes from the pan.

  2. Take 2/3 aazhakku of rice and add to the sauce pan with moong daal. Toss around for a little longer so that the rice and daal become a little bit crisp.

  3. Add the rice and daal to a vessel, which will go into the pressure cooker. Add 3.5 tumblers of water to the vessel, fill the pressure cooker with water upto 1 inch and switch it on. Note that this process is similar to how rice or daal are cooked.

  4. Take 2 tsp of pepper (whole) and crush them slightly. This helps ensure that the pepper pieces remains slightly whole, but also easily allow flavour to leak in.

  5. Add 1 tbsp of oil to the sauce pan. Once the oil gets hot, slit and add 2 green chillis, break and add 2 red chillis, add the pepper and 10 curry leaves. Toss and fry the spices a little bit. Once cooked till the raw smell is gone, place them in a different vessel.

  6. Add 1 tbsp ghee to the sauce pan. Add 1 tbsp of cashews to the ghee and roast the cashews. Further break the cashews into smaller pieces as they get soft. Then set the cashews aside in another container.

  7. After 2 hisses, leave the pressure cooker on sim for 5 minutes, and then switch off the cooker. Once the pressure has reduced, open the cooker. Take the rice daal mixture out and mash it. Then add the spices and cashews and 1 tumbler of water to the rice and daal and mix.

  8. Now also add 4 tsp of salt and 3 tbsp of ghee and mix thoroughly. Fnally put in a serving bowl.

Serve the venn pongal with ghotsu and white coconut chutney.