Ven Pongal & Rava Pongal

Ven Pongal/Pongal

Iam sure this dish will be a favorite for many of us. Though the main ingredient of this recipe is rice, we would not hesitate to have it for breakfast or dinner! This one among the VIP (Vadai-Idly-Pongal) combo, is a staple in all our South Indian Hotels' menu, festivals, auspicious days, as 'prasadam' in temples, marriages...and the list goes on!

This festive food is easy to make and rich in taste as well! The blend of finely cooked lentils with mashed rice and some fried nuts, spices along with the magical aroma of ghee makes it all the more delicious and lip-smacking!

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup

Moong dal - 1/4 cup

Grated ginger - 1 teaspoon

Green chilli - 1 split

Black pepper corns - 1 teaspoon

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Ghee - 3-4 tablespoons

Bunch of curry leaves for seasoning

Roasted cashewnuts - 12

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Water - 4 cups normal water, 1 cup hot water

Boiled Milk - 1 cup

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash rice and moong dal and rinse completely. Cook the rice and moong dal with 4 cups of water, cumin seed and salt in the pressure cooker for upto 6 whistles

2. Meantime, heat ghee in a small wok, fry the pepper corns, curry leaves, ginger, chilli and finely when done add the asafoetida

3. Now, add the hot water and milk to the cooked rice and dal, and mash-mix well (more hot water can be added depending upon the pongal consistency)

4. Now, add the fried items to this and mix gently

5. Pongal is ready!

Rava/Sooji (Semolina) Pongal

1. For this pongal, substitute rice with 1 cup of ghee roasted rava

2. Cook the roasted rava in 3 cups of boiling water

3. Pressuse cook 1/4 cup moong dal

4. Mix the cooked rava and dal along with the fried items (same as above) and salt

5. Rava Pongal is ready! (the taste of this pongal is as good as Ven Pongal made of rice)

Pongal goes well with many sidedishes, whether it be a simple coconut chutney or kathirikai gotsu (egg plant curry), it tastes like heaven!

My personal choice is kathirikai sambar, along with medhu vadai!

Kande Pohe

Ever since i heard about this tiffen in 'Pavitra Rishta' (PR) (a Hindi Serial aired on Zee TV, which is also a partial remake of Sun TV's 'Thirumathi Selvam') i was craving to taste it!

Kande means onion in marathi and Pohe is the beaten rice or rice flakes (aval in tamil)...nothing complicated! simple and easy to make, like our very own rava upuma (of course tastes much better than upuma.

(in PR more than the characters they keep talking about Kande Poha...and its Maharashtrian authenticity)

Thanks to yesterdays guests (Yashica and her mom)! I actually wanted to make something very easy and with the stuff available in my kitchen. Since i was expecting them in the evening i did not have much time to opt for a complicated snack/tiffen. So this recipe, which i came across in some unknown food blog flashed in my mind and finally i cooked this Maharashtrian Nashtah (Tiffen) for my evening guests...guess what, everybody liked it!

Ingredients:

2 cups Thick Poha (beaten/flaked rice) 
1 chopped onion
1 Chopped potato
1 tsp chopped green chillies
a pinch of hing 
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Mustered  seeds
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1/4 cup crushed groundnuts
1/2 tsp sugar 
Salt to taste
Finely chopped coriander, & grated coconut for garnishing
oil for seasoning
1 tsp Lemon juice

Directions:

1. Wash the poha using a colander

2. Drain water such that Poha is moist but not mashed (leave aside for 5- 10)

3. Heat oil in a pan add mustered seeds, hing, green chillies, onion, potato and groundnuts

4. After a while add turmeric powder and cook until the potatoes are cooked well

5. Now add red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and sugar, and cook for 2 minutes

6. Now add the poha and mix well, last add lemon juice

7. Finally when done, garnish with coriander leaves & grated coconut

Note: As shown in PR this tiffen can be had for breakfast and evening snack as well.

Tastes good with fresh curd, or with tea.