Ven Pongal

Ingredients

Rice- 1 cup

split/yellow moong dal- 1/2 cup

cashews-a few broken into small pieces or halved

cumin-seeds- 1tsp

pepper- 1 tsp

green chillies- 1slited

ginger - a small piece chopped finely

asafoetida- a couple of pinches

curry leaves- a few

salt to taste

oil-1tbsp

ghee- 1 tbsp

Method

Dry roast the dal lightly for a couple of minutes till a nice aroma comes and set aside. Be careful not to turn it brown.

Heat oil and ghee in a pressure cooker and when hot add the cashews,pepper, cumin, ginger,green chilli ,curry leaves and asafoetida. Keep in a low flame and make sure nothing gets burnt.

Add the dal and the washed rice to it and then add 4 cups of water . Check salt and pressure cook it. ( As we add more water for this , most of the time the water overflows . To avoid this I follow this method: partly cover with a lid, turn on high flame and let it boil. After some time when the rice , dal and water are in even consistency ,close with a lid. When steam comes add weight and simmer for 15 minutes.)

When the steam subsides completely,open the cooker and mix it well so that it gets mashed lightly.

Serve hot with sambar or coconut chutney.

Note

You can pressure cook the dal and rice and then do the seasonings finally too.

Vegetable Upma

Ingredients

rava- 2 cups

onion- 1 chopped finely

tomato- 1 chopped finely

green chillies-2 slitted

ginger- 1 small piece chopped finely

carrot-1 chopped finely

beans- 6-8 chopped finely

peas- 1/2 cup

capsicum-1/4 chopped finely

potato-1 chopped finely

cooked channa- 1/4 cup

turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp or less

chilli powder- 1/4 tsp or acc to taste

garam masala powder- 1/4 tsp

coriander leaves- a few chopped finely

salt to taste

Seasonings

oil- 2 to 3 tbsp

mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp

split urad dal- 1/4 tsp

channa dal- 1/2 tsp

cashews halved- 5

asafoetida- little

curry leaves- a few

Method

Dry roast the rava in a heavy bottomed pan for a couple of minutes till the raw smell disappears.

Transfer the rava in a different plate and keep aside.

Heat oil in the same pan and add mustard seeds, cashews, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves and asafoetida one by one.

When the cashews turn golden brown , add the chopped onions, green chillies and ginger. Then add the chopped tomatoes, fry for some time and then add all the chopped veggies .

Saute for sometime and add salt, turmeric, chilli , garam masala powders and 1/2 cup of water to it.

Simmer the flame and close the pan with a lid .When all the veggies are cooked, add 2 cups of water and the roasted rava (1:1 ratio). Mix well and close with the lid for a minute. Upma is ready now... serve hot with chutney or pickle.