Healthy Millet Pongal

The importance of eating whole grains are flying everwhere now a days. So there is no need to tell about how healthy this dish is...Today I am going to present you a traditional dish that is made using millet "Healthy Millet Pongal." I have made this pongal using varagu rice. You can use thinai or kuthiraivaali or saamai with the same measurements and procedure.

INGREDIENTS:

Varagu rice - 1 cup

Moong dal - 1/2 cup

Water - 6 3/4 cup

Salt - as required

Cashew - 10

To Temper:

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Peeper - 1 tsp

Ginger - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 2 springs

METHOD:

1) In a kadai dry roast moong dal in medium flame till it becomes light brown in colour( don't burn dal as it will give a bitter taste) and nice aroma fills your kitchen. Keep that aside.

2) Wash and drain varagu rice twice with water to remove any impurities.

3) Take the washed rice and roasted moong dal in a pressure cooker. Add water and salt. Close and pressure cook for 1 whistle, then reduce flame to low for 10 minutes and switch off. Let the pressure release on its own.

4) To Temper:

           In a kadai add ghee and oil. Fry cashews and keep it separate. In the same kadai add jeera, ginger, pepper and curry leaves and fry till nice aroma comes(without burning them).

5) Add the tempered mixture and the cashews to the cooked rice and mix well.

Serve hot with sambar and coconut chutney. It tasted so yummy with my favourite sambar( I will post the recipe soon) and coconut chutney.

A healthy yet very tasty breakfast to start any wonderful day!!!!

NOTES:

1) Pongal will always firm up as it cools down, so don't worry if it looks slightly watery after opening the cooker.

2) You can add two green chilli or two red chilli while tempering for a spice up version.

Cheers,

Sindhiya.S