Venn Pongal

Venn means white (or pure/pristine) in Tamil. Venn Pongal translates to White Pongal. It is a simple savory dish made from rice and dhal, and seasoned with cumin and pepper-corns in fragrant ghee. Most commonly had during breakfast/brunch, Venn Pongal is yet another classic South-Indian food. 

Ingredients (serves 2)

1. 1 cup of raw white rice
2. ¼ cup of moong dhal / payatham paruppu
3. ½ - 1 teaspoon of black pepper corns (subject to your preference)
4. 1.5 teaspoons of cumin seeds
5. 1 teaspoon of finely chopped ginger
6. few broken cashew nuts to garnish (1/2 - 1 teaspoon)
7. 2 teaspoons of ghee
8. a few curry leaves
9. 4.25 - 5 cups of water; the ratio of rice + dhal : water is 1:4.5 (it depends on the type of rice, and how mushy you like your pongal. I added 4.5 cups of water total, and my pongal can still afford to be just a bit more mushy. The new rice we bought has been messing up my measurements a tiddly bit).
10. Salt - 3/4 teaspoon (or to taste)

Preparation

1. Dry roast the rice and moong dhal on medium heat for 5-6 minutes until the grains are warm to the touch.
2. Add water and salt to the slightly roasted rice and dhal and cook until the rice/dhal is fully cooked and the water is completely absorbed.
3. When the rice cooks, prepare the garnish. Dry roast the pepper-corns and cumin seeds on medium heat until the pepper corn begins to pop slightly (about 6-10 mins). Grind the roasted pepper and cumin to a fine powder.
4. Heat a couple of teaspoons of ghee on low-medium heat. When hot, roast the cashews till they begin to turn a golden brown. Next, add the ginger and fry for a minute. Finally, add the curry leaves and the ground pepper-cumin powder and fry a minute with the heat switched off.
5. Fluff up the cooked rice. Add the garnish to the rice/dhal and mix well (do this when the rice is hot). Serve with sambar, rasam, gothsu, or chutney.

Venn Pongal will be slightly mushier than regular steamed rice. So, adjust your rice/dhal : water ratio based on how much water you add for cooking rice. The rule of thumb is - add ½ - 1 cup to the former measure.

I personally don’t like whole pepper-corns sneaking between bites of pongal. I end up removing them from the pongal as I eat. So, I grind it along with cumin so that the spices uniformly mix in the pongal. But, most people just fry the cumin seeds and pepper-corns in ghee (along with the rest of the garnish) and don’t make a powder. So, experiment and adopt a version that works for you!