Ghee Ven Pongal

With navarathri on the run,I wanted to post a recipe that could be made as an offering to the deities.So I asked mom and she told me that ven pongal is one among the offerings and I decided to go ahead with it as it is also very easy.Though ven pongal recipe is quite very easy not all ven pongals are tasty...so I would like to share a few things which I learnt from my mom and on my own experience that will help you make a delicious pongal which will make everyone happy.

Preparation time:30 mins

Serves:3

Ingredients:

Raw rice-1 cup

Moong dal-1/2 cup

Salt-to taste

Ghee-4 tbsp

Oil-1 tbsp

To temper:

Peppercorns-1 tbsp

Jeera-1 tbsp

Very finely chopped ginger -2 tsp

Curry leaves- few

Cashews-10 nos

Procedure:

1.Pressure cook raw rice and dal with 4 cups of water till they are mushy.

2.Add the required amount of salt to this rice and dal mixture.

3.In a pan add the ghee and oil and heat it.add the tempering ingredients and roast them till the cashews turn golden brown and the curry leaves are crispy.

4.Switch off the flame and add these tempered ingredients to the rice dal  mixture.

5.Garnish with few curry leaves and serve hot with coconut chutney and sambar.

Ghee Pongal

Tips:

* Do not omit ginger and curry leaves as they add a nice flavour.

*Add pepper and jeera only during tempering and not along with rice and dal mixture.

*Keep some hot water ready before serving and if the pongal becomes hard ,you can add little hot water to it so that it  comes to the correct consistency.But do not add cold water as it will destroy all the flavours.

*You can add a tsp of ghee on top of the pongal in the plate just before serving for a nice ghee rich flavour.