Ingredients

• 1 cup - Raw rice
• 1/4 cup - moong Dal
• 10- 15 Cashew nuts (half split)
• 2tbsp - Ghee
• 1 tsp - Oil
• 5-7 cups - water
• Ginger, small piece (finely chopped)
• Tempering: 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
• 4-5 Peppercorns crushed
• 1/2 tsp - jeera/cumin seeds
• 4-5 Curry leaves
• 2-3 Red dry chillies
• 2-3 Shallots finely cut half (optional)
• Seasoning: 1/2 tsp - Pepper powder
• Salt - according to taste
• 1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
• For garnish: 3-4 Cashews (fried)
• Coriander, finely chopped

How to Make Ven pongal recipe

• Pre-preparation:
• Soak rice and dal separately in water for about 15-20 minutes.
• In a pressure cooker or a heavy bottom wok or kadai, add the oil and ghee and once hot, add all the ingredients for tempering.
• Remove moong dal from water and fry it with the tempered ingredients till you get the aroma of fried dal.
• Add the chopped ginger and seasoning ingredients and mix well.
• Remove rice from water and give it a good stir, ensuring the rice is blended well with the other ingredients.
• Add 5-6 cups of water if using a pressure cooker, or a little more if cooking in a wok or big pan.
• Your final result should be well blended and super soft mushy rice.
• Remove from heat and set aside.
• In another wok, add ghee and the garnishing ingredients. For a rich pongal, you could add more ghee than suggested, or simply replace it with vegetable oil if you are conscious about all the fat.
• To the browned garnishing, add the rice mixture and garnish with chopped coriander.
• Serve hot with varieties of chutney or piping hot sambhar.