RAVA PONGAL/ SEMOLINA PONGAL

  I happened to taste rava pongal in a coimbatore restaurant. It was so great that i tried it at home and it turned out good. Since then, it became our sunday breakfast. Regarding origin, I'm clueless about the same..


 The usual pongal is prepared combining raw rice and moong dal in a pressure cooker and then seasoned with pepper, cumin and
ginger. Here, rava and moong dal are cooked separately and then combined together to temper with pepper, ginger and cumin seeds in clarified butter.

INGREDIENTS
Rava/ Sooji/ Semolina - 1 cup
Water - 3.5 cups
Moong dal (yellow)/ paasi paruppu - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 tablespoon
Pepper (coarsely crushed) - 1&1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Ginger (finely chopped) - 1&1/2 teaspoon
Cashew nuts - 8 to 10 (as per taste)
Salt - as required

METHOD
1. Cook moong dal in a pressure cooker for a whistle. Drain the excess water and keep it aside for cooking rava. Meanwhile, dry roast rava and keep it aside.
2. Bring 3.5 cups of water (including the dal water that was drained for cooking rava) to rolling boil. Add rava to the water little by little continuously stirring without any lumps.
3. Add salt. Stir rava occasionally so that it doesn't burn at the bottom. Add water if needed. When the rava is almost done, add the cooked moong dal and blend it together. Let it sit over the flame till all water has evaporated.
Add more water if necessary.

4. Turn off the stove now. Melt ghee in a pan and add cashew nuts, pepper, cumin seeds and ginger. Fry till crisp and pour over the pongal. Mix pongal with a spoon thoroughly.
5. Serve with a dollop of ghee over the pongal. Sambhar and coconut chutney is just the right combo for this dish. You can also pair with groundnut chutney for this pongal

TIPS
1. Moong dal, if soaked for about an hour can reduce your cooking time. I usually soak them overnight in refrigerator and cook directly over a pan.
2. Crushing pepper for tempering is just optional, whole peppers can also be used (the usual form of pongal in restaurants).