Ven Pongal

Ven Pongal is a traditional breakfast or tiffin dish served mainly in Tamil Nadu. It is a delicious mix of Cheru paruppu (split moong dal) and rice. I have tasted many a different variety of Ven Pongal ranging from gooey kind, to the not so watery kind, but the best of which I liked is my mom's style of preparing Ven Pongal which is different from the traditional method. I am posting the same here.

Ingredients
Rice --- 1 cup
Moong Dal split -- 1/4 cup
Ghee -- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Black Pepper -- 1 tsp
Jeeragam (Cumin) 1/2 tsp

For Garnish
Ghee -- 1 tsp
Cashew Nuts (split) -- 5-8 pieces
Raisins --5-6

Method

1. In a pressure cooker cook the rice and moong dal separately. For cooking rice add 3.5 cups of water for 1 cup of rice and for cooking moong dal for 1/4 cup add 1 cup of water.
2. While the rice and daal are cooking in a kadai take a tsp of ghee and roast the black pepper and cumin until the cumin turns brown. After it cools, crush it using a pestle.
3. Once the rice and daal is cooked remove from cooker after the steam has gone. Take the cooked rice in a bowl and let it cool for a 10 minutes. While the rice is still warm add the cooked daal, ghee, the crushed mixture and salt and mix well taking care not to break the rice too much.
4. Roast the cashews and raisins in ghee until the cashews turn golden brown. Pour this over the rice mixture and Ven Pongal is ready.

Serve warm with coconut chutney or sambaar.