Rava Pongal | Sooji Pongal

Ven pongal is a popular South Indian breakfast dish made with rice and moong dal. This rava pongal is a variation of my ven pongal recipe, made with roasted semolina and moong dal. It is quite healthy and makes a hearty and delicious breakfast. Rava pongal can be served with a simple coconut chutney, sambar or gothsu.

If you like rava upma, then you will definitely like this pongal. The spices tempered in ghee adds a nice flavor to the pongal, so don't skip it. But if you are calorie conscious, you can use oil and it tastes equally good. Pongal is coming up next week, so try this easy rava pongal for breakfast on one of the four days. We enjoyed this rava pongal with coconut chutney.

RAVA PONGAL RECIPE

{ Semolina and lentil dish with pepper, cumin and ginger }
Serves 3-4

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Ingredients:

1 cup rava / semolina
½ cup paasi paruppu / yellow moong dal
Salt to taste

To temper:
2 tbsp ghee
1 tsp whole black pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds / jeera
1 tbsp cashewnuts, broken
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp grated ginger

Method:

1. Dry roast moong dal for 3-4 minutes. Wash the dal 2-3 times and add 1 cup water. Pressure cook for 2 whistles.

2. Add 1 tsp ghee in kadai and fry the rava until nice aroma comes and turns to light golden color. Set aside.

3. In the same kadai add remaining ghee and add whole black pepper. When pepper starts to pop, add cashewnuts and fry until golden.

4. Then add jeera, curry leaves, ginger and fry few seconds. Add 3 cups of water, salt and bring to boil.

5. Once it comes to rolling boil, reduce the heat to low and gradually add rava and mix well. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes or until rava is completely cooked.

6. Add the cooked moong dal and combine everything. Cook for 1-2 minutes and remove from heat.

Serving Suggestion ~ Coconut chutney, sambar or gothsu.

Notes and Tips

• For a low calorie pongal, you can either make it with half ghee and half oil or just with oil alone.
• You can also add finely chopped green chillies for some spice.
• The moong dal should not become too mushy. It should be cooked until soft.