Ven pongal is a very easy and comfort food. A famous South Indian breakfast. Learn how to make ven pongal with step by step pictures.
Mostly in weekend mornings I make ven pongal it to laze around. In contrast to Vj, Aj won’t even touch this one.
I make it only with chutney if I want to make it simple. But brinjal or any vegetable of gotsu (we at home call is gosthu) will be great side dish for pongal.
Even tiffin sambar will be great accompaniment. But I love it both with sambar and chutney together.
About
Ven pongal is a south Indian breakfast dish prepared with raw rice, yellow split mung dal (yellow moong dal or pasi paruppu/ Payatham paruppu in Tamil).
Dal and rice are cooked in more water ratio and mashed for a creamy texture.
Black pepper and cumin seeds are commonly added to pongal. This adds flavor and spice as well as helps in digestion.
Ven pongal is always served with oodles of ghee. I always prefer homemade ghee as I feel it is lighter comparatively.
Each house, they make a variation though small, makes a lot of difference in out come.
Some add crushed pepper and cumin raw while others fry it in ghee and add.
Cashews, ginger, green chilli and curry leaves are added depending on one’s preference.
Top tip
Having said pongal is easy job at kitchen, its tricky too to get the right consistency.
I have struggled a lot to get it right. Now for only us I make it perfect, but if I need to make for more people, I am not still that confident to make it.
Sometimes the pongal becomes so dry or so watery. But I have some trouble shooting ideas now if I run into trouble.
Tips to get perfect ven pongal:
- Water measure should be correct. Too less will end up in dry pongal while too much water may taste bland and texture will be too runny.
- Keep hot water ready to adjust the consistency when you open the cooker if in case needed. Adjust salt too accordingly.
- Roasting the dal makes it more flavorful and the texture is also good if we roast.
My notes
An important point to note is depending upon the make and model of the pressure cooker, the number of whistles may change.
Some model takes just long time between whistles. In such cases, be cautious to avoid burnt bottom.
Also some rice take more water or less water. So test test test and find your exact recipe.
Pongal can be cooked directly in pressure cooker like I did or even pot inside pot method.
Variations
As I mentioned earlier, pongal can be made in many ways. My mom’s pongal is one pot pongal.
She tempers whole pepper and cumin along with ginger, green chilli curry leaves and asafoetida. I have posted it but added turmeric along while she doesn’t add.
Her dal ratio is more for the rice.
Recipe card
Ven pongal recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw rice I used sona masuri
- ¼ cup Moong dal pasi paruppu
- 5 cups Water
- Salt – as needed
- 1 tablespoon Ginger chopped
- 1 pinch Asafoetida
To temper
- 2 tablespoon Ghee
- 1 teaspoon Pepper
- 1.5 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 2 pinch Asafoetida
- 8 Cashews Broken/ slit
Instructions
- Wash rice and dal together. An optional step is to roast the moong dal for extra flavour.
- Heat a small cooker with a teaspoon of ghee. Fry ginger and asafoetida for few seconds.
- Add 5 cups of water, bring to boil.
- Add the washed rice, dal, salt and pressure cook for 4 whistles in medium flame.
- Wait until pressure gets released naturally, after that open and mash.
- Temper with the items given under the table.
- First add ghee, when hot add pepper and let it start splutter and then switch off the flame.
- Add cashews and fry till it starts golden and lastly add jeera.
- After that curry leaves and asafoetida. Mix in the heat and then add it to pongal and mix well.
Notes
- If the pongal is watery when you open, then you can try keeping it again in stove and mix well until water evaporates. This happens because of the cooker’s make model,also when the whistle comes in short intervals.
- If it is too dry/thick then add some hot water to bring it to desired consistency. Make sure to balance salt.
- Don’t let the cumin seeds burn while frying, as it changes the whole taste of pongal.
- If you want/ like pepper flavour, you can add 1 teaspoon of pepper coarse powder to the pongal lastly while mixing. It gives a great flavour and turns more spicy.
- One of my maamis use dalda 50% or oil for making pongal and it tastes great, but it’s slightly feels heavy or full in just few spoons. Homemade ghee is best for pongal.
Stepwise photos
1. Wash rice and dal together An optional step is to roast the moong dal for extra flavor.
Heat a small cooker with a teaspoon of ghee. Fry ginger and asafoetida for few seconds.
2. Add 5 cups of water, bring to boil. Add the washed rice, dal, salt and pressure cook for 4 whistles in medium flame. Wait until pressure gets released naturally, open & mash.
3. Temper with the items given under the table.
First add ghee, when hot add pepper and let it start splutter and then switch off the flame.
Add cashews and fry till it starts golden and then lastly add jeera. After that in goes curry leaves and asafoetida.
Mix in the heat itself and then add it to pongal and mix.
Serve it super hot with gothsu or chutney as an accompaniment. I made gothsu with potato and carrot the other day and ginger cooconut chutney
hey raji,
yummy pongal…the dollop of ghee does wonders to the taste!! lovely clicks
Very delicious Pongal..one of my most favorite brkfast when I paired wid sambar..love it 2 d core
Pongal is one of my favorite breakfast items too,but I seldom make it at home.Reason being,I like it with vada,sambhar and chutney.To make it from scratch is not something i look forward to:).Love the last pic,makes me want to reach out to my pressure cooker for making pongal:)
Pongal with vada and sambar,i can have it anytime..
One of my fav Bf recipe,looks very tempting!!mmm Vadai is missing…
pongal looks awesome n ur clicks too
Super Yummy Recipes
My son and suresh loves pongal a lot. Nicely done and loved all the clicks ESP the black and white. Very useful tips
Nice and comfort food
Ghee melting ven pongal…cant say to this anytime. Looks very tempting!
Ghee melting ven pongal…cant say no to this anytime. Looks very tempting!
I can smell your ven pongal…. the ghee oozing out from the pongal is making me hungry ;(
Its morning here and you tempt me with all this pics, I could relish only if someone made for me. Looks delicious Raks!
looks so delicious. my mouth is watering now
Ghee pongal looks tempting,Nice clicks.
Hi Raji, I've had pongal only at friend's homes and restaurants so far and I can't wait to recreate it in my kitchen with your recipe.
Is there a specific variety of rice you use for pongal?
PS: The whistling pressure cooker picture is awesome.
Everybody loves this, but however I make it can never match the one that we get in our temples, yours looks very good..
pongal looks so mouthwatering
This is one of my all time favorite breakfasts!! Wish I had that plate in front of me now, its breakfast time here!
Pongal looks yummy and perfect for weekend morning when we're lazy.
Pongal looks really yummy..so mouthwatering.
Steamingpot.com: I used sona masoori rice… Thanks for your appreciation!
Awesome Raji! My fav breakfast combo is ven pongal with kattrikay gothsu, and your pictures are tempting enough to make me rush to kitchen asap.
pongal looks delicious raji 🙂
Pongal looks delicious. Love that cooker pic. Beautiful in black and white 🙂
Beautiful clicks as always, just made it yesterday, love it for Bkfast., Pongal, vada Sambhar and chutney what else do you need 🙂
Lovely clicks,healthy and yum pongal..
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wow…perfect ven pongal…looks more tempting…lovely clicks too!!
Spicy Treats
Yummy ven pongal!! reminds me of kovils back in home town/country… hmmm.. Like the tamizh water mark too :))
love it..looks so yumm
Mashy n yummy pongal, making me hungey dear…Perfectly done and luv the texture…
Gorgeous looking pongal. Lovely clicks. Somehow not able to view the B&W picture !!
Inviting pongal. Gorgeous click.
Vardhini
CooksJoy
Perfect and droolingggggggg…….
Lovely clicks.Very bright :)A dish that is loved by all in our family 🙂
Such a comfort food, I can eat hot pongal any day.
Pongal and chutney is a hot family favorite…Super click
wow yummy pongal and perfectly made it…love the pics.
Lovely looking Pongal! Love the pics too!
All time favorite with lovely picts Raji 🙂
My husband doesn't like gooey ven pongal so i make a drier version but this looks just heavenly and that picture of the cooker is awesome!
its so tempting dear…raji,, i have a happy news for u . My friend's wife, who got recently married , is learning to cook recipes from your blog, she loves your blog . When i met her yesterday in london , she said about your blog and felt very happy , when i told her that you are my friend through blogging . She conveyed her wishes to you and saw your profile in FB .
delicious recipe dear….wonderful presentation n gorgeous clicks !!!!!!!
http://www.onlyfishrecipes.com/
could smell the tempting aroma here..irresistable cliks..;)
Tasty Appetite
It is evil to make me see this after a kaya toast breakfast 🙁 That pressure cooker shot is actually hot. Quite literally. Superb!
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Hi Raji Superb hot Shot nice texture 🙂 keep it up . Have u tried with Rava it's really yummy try and tell me .
Loved the black and white snapshot! Ven Pongla looks delicious!
the venpongal looks so good. i have only had pongal a couple of times. never made them at home. am going to give this recipe a try.
Looks so good, perfect for anytime of the day.
love your b&w pic too. lovely mood!
Love the black and white capture.. gorgeous!
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yummy pongal…………..
I'm just checking the b&w picture, it did not display last time when i visited this page. The picture is too too too too too goood…..
first of all, that b&w pic of the pressure cooker is incredible… love it.the pongal looks perfect!
This is salt and mild spiced with pepper….
hi raji
is der any specific sidedish (kozhambu) for pongal? thenga chutney is gud…….but i want its perfect hotel look. (sambar)
Try this tiffin sambar… http://www.rakskitchen.net/2011/02/tiffin-sambar-with-moong-dal.html
actually i dont know how to prepare hot pongal iam from andhra pradesh i tasted once one hotel, today i want to prepare hot pongal it's very easy and healthy light food. i like kerala foods
I'm going to try making this today. Is there a particular type of rice I need? Like basmati or…
Yes, raw rice (not parboiled rice) works great for this. Look for 'Sona masoori' rice. Basmati also will be nice for it. Follow the same measurement.
thanks.. it s nice…………
I made pongal for today's Breakfast. I came out amazing. The aroma of the pongal when I opened the cooker was great. The taste was also excellent. Thanks for sharing this. 🙂
I cooked it for today's breakfast. It came out excellent. Them aroma of the pongal when I opened the cooker was amazing. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
its orginated from TaMIL nadu
its not kerala food
Raks I must say you are absolutely brilliant chef.. Love your cooking steps and pictures.. You inspire everyone to cook and that counts as a blessing for you.. Pressure cooked my pongal. Cant wait to open it 🙂
Hi Raji. Pongal came out great. Please also post the gothsu recipe with potato. Thanks.
I have tried this recipe several times.. It always turns out great 🙂
Hello Raji,
Made ven pongal today…Followed exactly what you have mentioned..same measurements…Pongal was cooked properly and it was gooey…But after it cools down it was dry and I dont get the glossy look like ur pongal…Where did i went wrong? I need to make like urs with ghee oozing out from it…Can u help me to get the right consistency?
Hi , am new user and I am following regularly !
Must say all the recipes are coming out good.
But I dont have a cooker, can I make this pongal in electric cooker ??
Pls reply asap
After cools down if dry, reheat and add more ghee. Probably ghee or water less. Since different rice needs different water quantity.
Electric cooker makes the pongal dry and wont be moist. But sure you can try.
very nice. and thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Hi Raji, I never ventured to prepare Venpongal as i was not confident with my preparation on all these days. But you have changed my story different with your receipe, It was very nice n delicious, thanks a lot. Chandra
Tried this today and it was fabulous. Thanks a ton!
very yummy
Awesome Pongal…
Superr!!! we prepared this today using your recipe and it turned to be good. Thanks for sharing it.
I tried this version of Pongal now. Awesome it is!!! Pictures are really tempting. Please keep sharing…
excellent recipe, I followed it verbatim and got great results, great aroma
Perfect!!!!!
No other words….
Luv it like anything.. taste was too good..
My family also liked it alot..
Credit goes to youu and thanks fr d good receipe raks..
Thank you very much for this recipe. It was my first time making pongal and it was super yummy. A big hit with my hubby.
It's a very delicious recipe and especially the way you mentioned the right measurements.
Followed your recipe and pongal tasted wonderful! thanks Raks
Tried this today for breakfast with same procedure n same measurement you have given. Delicious pongal. Got compliments from hubby.
Hai… Good morning. Thanks for making my day. Did the same exact recepie and it tasted awsme…
Hai… Good morning. Thanks for making my day. Did the same exact recepie and it tasted awsme…
Thank you..Good explanation.
A newbie for ven ponggal having ate them twice at different time of the day. Tried your ven ponggal and it was yummy, pairing with katrikai gothsu, strong coffee and chilly foggy day. Thanks
Thanks 🙂 Awesome combination!
Hi… I hate pongal basically. But my husband likes pongal alot. so simply tried with your recipes idea..
Finally omg .. ultimate outcome .. fantabulous taste … Made me to get addict on pongal��..
Many thanks for your pongal recipes..
I absolutely loves ve your recipe. I have been referred your site for 2 years. In Ramadan, after making portal I make it watery and add few extra spices to make ganji (porridge generally eaten while braking the fast) It has been big hit. Keep sharing.
Yummy one
Adding salt, pressure cooking right, adding ingredients as mentioned is key. May be try crushing pepper and Jeera.