Rava Pongal - Cooking With Sapana

We have started the second week of BM#36 , the wonderful marathon of food blogging running by +Srivalli Jetti , and my theme for the week is Pongal recipes. Pongal is the only festival of Hindu that follows a solar calendar and is celebrated on the fourteenth of January every year. Pongal has astronomical significance also , it marks the beginning of Uttarayana, the Sun’s movement northward for a six month period. Pongal signals the end of the traditional farming season, giving farmers a break from their routine. Farmers also perform puja to some crops, signaling the end of the traditional farming season. Read more about Pongal here.

Pongal is referred as a rice preparation made with rice and Moong dal but there are numerous versions of it. I planned to make sweet pongal for the first day but end up with this savory rava pongal. The reason behind , I was running out of rice and the lazy one inside me doesn’t allow me to go and bought some in this chilly weather here in Delhi . Of course I will have to go to market but not today. I served it with Amla pickle, and we all enjoyed it. So let’s start the recipe . Yum

Oops Did I mention that today my blog turned 1 years old . Happy blogversary !! Many Thanks to the friends and followers for being so supportive . Hope to continue and celebrate many more birthdays of my blog. Cheers!!

Recipe source here!

Ingredients:
1 cup Rava/Semolina/Suzi
1/2 cup Moong Dal (washed and split green gram /dhuli Moong dal)
10-12 Cashew Nuts
4 tablespoon Clarified butter
3-4 Curry Leaves
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
4-5 Black peppercorn
1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
Salt to taste
1 1/2 cup water

Method:
Heat a wok and dry roast rava without any oil till it changes it color , at least for about 5-7 minutes.
Pressure cook the moong dal with 1 cup of water.
Fry the black pepper and cumin seeds in a pan and make a coarse powder of them.
Heat 1 tablespoon clarified butter in a wok , add the powdered cumin seeds and peeper corn the cashewnuts, curryleaves, chopped ginger and keep aside.

Transfer the cooked dal to a heavy bottomed pan and add a cup of water. Add salt and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the fried rava to the above boiling dal in small batches and stir continuously till the rava is cooked completely. Add clarified butter little by little from the side.
Now add the fried pepper , cumin and the fried cashew nuts, curry leaves and chopped ginger. Mix well.