Ven Pongal or Khara (moong dal) Pongal / Ven Pongal Recipe / Khara Pongal Recipe / How to Make Ven Pongal or Khara Pongal.
Ven Pongal is a famous traditional breakfast dish of South India. It is one of my all-time favorite breakfast dish. You can make it on lazy weekend mornings for breakfast. There are a varieties of Pongal recipes and I will add all those slowly. I had this Ven Pongal recipe in my drafts for three to four years now. There is no other occasion than these Pongal days to share it with you guys. It happened only today.. 
The first festival of the year has commenced and we can feel the joy and fervor all around the social media. We wish that this pongal fills your life with love, happiness, prosperity, health and spirituality. Wishing you and your family very happy Pongal.
Pongal is a harvest festival dedicated to sun god and celebrated by Tamilians in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a four days festival which is celebrated mostly inTamil Nadu as a gesture of thanksgiving for the year`s harvest. For the year 2019 it starts tomorrow and so I thought to add this Pongal recipe. It comes in the middle of January. There is a similar festival called Thai Pongal which is being celebrated throughout India.
What came to my mind when I started to write something on it was how we relished this dish during our childhood when my mom used to make it. My dad was in Madurai for few years as part of his work. We kids with our mom used to go to Madurai during every two months’ vacation from school. As you know, it is a favorite breakfast dish of Tamilians. My mom learned how to make this Pongal from one of our house maids there. Once my mom prepared this dish and we all loved its taste. And after having it, that house maid commented that she tasted the best Pongal from what my mummy made that day. Since then mummy used to make it once in a while and I don’t know how she forgot totally about ven Pongal to make in Kerala. I have to remind her. She even might have forgotten the recipe!! I remember as kids how I used to count the black pepper corns in my plate and how we fought for getting more fried cashew nuts in the pongal.. 
Ven Pongal is very easy and tasty dish and a comfort food. It is full of protein. It goes well with chutney and Sambar. What is important and tricky while making it is to get the right consistency. It should not be so watery or so dry. We should be extra careful while making it for a big group. This is mainly a breakfast dish, but suits for dinner as well.
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Coming back to the recipe of Ven Pongal / Khara Pongal.
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 263 / per serving
Ingredients for Khara Pongal:
White Rice / Pachari – 1 cup
Split skinned Moong Dal / Pasi Parippu – ¼ to ½ cup
Ginger – 1 tbsp. finely chopped
Asafoetida – 2 pinches
Salt – to taste
Water – 4 cups
To temper:
Ghee / Clarified Butter – 2 tbsp.
Whole Black Pepper Corns or coarse powder – 1 tbsp.
Urad Dal – 1 ½ tbsp. (optional)
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp.
Cashew Nuts – 2 tbsp.
Black Pepper Powder – 1 tsp.
Curry Leaves – 1 sprig, chopped
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
How to Make Ven Pongal:
Heat a pan on medium heat and dry roast the yellow moong dal until a lightly roasted aroma is released. Don’t let it turn brown. Wash rice and dal together until water is clear. Heat a small cooker with a tsp of ghee. Fry ginger and asafoetida for few seconds. Add 4 cups of water and salt to taste. Add the washed rice and Dal to this. Cook for 2 whistles on low flame. Let the pressure get released on its own. Open the cooker and check whether rice is cooked well. Otherwise you can cook if for another 2 more whistles. The consistency of Pongal is your personal choice. At this point you can mash up a bit to get the creamy consistency or not. (I didn’t..).
Heat a pan with Ghee. Splutter Black Pepper Corns. Add Urad Dal and saute it. Add Cashew Nuts and fry till it gets golden. . Add Cumin Seeds. Sauté until cumin sizzles. Add Curry Leaves and a pinch of Hing / Asafoetida. When the curry leaves turn crisp, switch off the stove. Pour this seasoning to the cooked rice and dal. Add more salt and ghee if needed and mix well and simmer for a minute or two.
It tastes best when served hot or warm with Coconut Chutney, Cabbage Chutney or Sambar. While serving, you can dollop a tsp. of ghee on top. It make wonders to the taste.
My Recipe Notes on Ven Pongal:
1. Roasting Moong dal is optional, but it adds extra flavour to the dish.
2. If you find watery Pongal when opening pressure cooker, he at it again till water evaporates.
3. The texture is of personal choice, some like it grainy and a few like it mushy. So cook until you get the texture to suit your taste. If it is too thick then add little milk to bring it to desired consistency. Again, the rice should have got cooked properly.
4. Instead of black pepper powder, you can use white pepper powder too.
5. You can also use a slit green chilli for adding heat (completely optional).
6. be careful while seasoning. If it burns, it will change the whole taste of Pongal.
7. If you want you can temper ginger while tempering other ingredients.
8. Add more ghee to make pongal more rich and tasty.
9. 1 cup = 255 ml.
Cheers..
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How to make Khara (Moong Dal) Pongal / How to Make Spicy Pongal / Restaurant Style Pongal Recipe / Instant Pongal Recipe / Hot Pongal / Ghee Pongal Recipe / Spicy Pongal / പൊങ്കൽ റെസിപ്പി.
Ven Pongal.
Description
It is a popular south Indian savoury and spicy dish, made from moong dal, rice and other spices. It is served for breakfast with side dishes like sambar and coconut based chutneys.