Ven Pongal !!!!!

This has been sitting in my draft for almost a month , and then i decided that it has been long so here i am :).
Pongal is an authentic South Indian Dish and is made of rice. It's my all time favorite to day and nothing beats a plate of Pongal served with Sambhar , Chutney and Medhu Vada.
I was pregnant and this was my all time craving. Those days i hardly used to cook and left it all to my hubby. When i told him he made it one fine day but somehow something was not right and i refused to eat it. Poor hubby of mine did not have the heart to ask me to eat as i kept telling him i was preggy and this did not suit  my taste buds :P.
So there i was calling up my Mom for her recipe. A week later i made my hubby make the Pongal once more and this time stood next to him and kept cross checking if everything was as per the recipe my Mom gave us. I guess he must have been cursing me in his heart for being such a Big pain :). The Pongal was a hit with my Hubby too and to this day he insists that i make it as per my Mom's recipe. It's a hit with my friends and relative too.

Ingredients :
Rice - 1 cup ( i use Sona Masoori)
Moong Dal - 1/4 cup
1/4"inch ginger
4 cups water
1/2 cup milk
Salt to taste


To temper :


1 tsp cumin seeds
20-25 peppercorns freshly ground (coarsely , not a fine powder).
20 cashews .
2 to 3 coriander leaves
1/2 cup ghee ( or more if your taste buds call for it).


To go about it :


Wash rice and dal (some may fry the dal but i don't prefer it). Add rice , dal , water , milk , ginger , 1 tsp of ghee , salt to a pressure pan ( or cooker). Close the pan and allow it to cook for 4 whistles.
Once the rice is cooked , stir it up. Add ghee now and stir it again. The more the ghee , the tastier the Pongal in my opinion :). So if you are going to be calorie conscious , you can still reduce the ghee to suit your needs.
In the meantime in a pan add ghee ( don't give me a look :) ) , add coriander leaves , cumin , cashew and the coarsely ground pepper. Fry this till you get a nice smell  and please don't allow the cashew to deep roast as it will spoil the taste.
Add this to the cooked rice and stir it up well. 
           Pongal is now ready for serving with Chutney and /or Sambhar. Wish i had made Vada to go along with it ....*sigh* !!!!!


Electric cooker Version :


For those people who would like to make Pongal in the Electric rice cooker -  the process would remain the same , but the water + milk should be 7 cups. This comes out as good as the rice cooker version :).

Idli !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Idli -  there used to be a time when i used to hate idli's. When i was doing my UG i had a bad experience with Idli's. The cook used to steam cook our idli's and when they come out they used to be all squishy. Man did i have an aversion to eating those idli's :(. Even home for vacations i used to refuse to eat idli's though of course Mom used to make them soft. Initially i used to avoid going to have either breakfast or dinner when the Menu indicated Idli. Then the hunger pangs used to force me to go have the squishy Idli's and the only compensation was the Homemade Idli Podi that i used to bring :).
Post Marriage when i came to the US we could not bring the Grinder with us as we were already overloaded and everyone told me that the Mixer Grinder never gave out good idli's. So there i was 2 years into marriage and had never made Idli's :). My hubby in fact loves Idli's and there never has been a day when he has not told me that i never made Idli's and my daughter at 9 months takes after her Dad - she loves Idli's :).
We finally got our own Grinder when i moved to NJ last September and since Mom was here it was a treat for us. And even after she left i continue the tradition of making Idli's for my family and luckily they turn out just right for me . The best part is that our friend's son who never used to eat anything makes it a point to always ask me " Aunty Idli?????" What would make me more happy????????????


I use my Mom's measurements for making recipe and to date it has never failed me. So here we go :)

Ingredients :


Idli Rice - 4 cups
Urad Dal - 1 1/4 cups
Fenugreek (vendayam) - 1tsp
Salt to taste
Water as required


To make the batter :


Soak the rice in a bowl big enough to hold 3 times the measurement provided and the Urad dal and fenugreek in another bowl and remeber the bowl should have the capacity to hold 3 times the provided measurement.
Soak it for atleast a minimum of 6 hours or you can soak it overnight.


In the grinder first grind the dal. Once it has reached a good consistency remove the batter to a vessel.
Next add the rice and grind it till required consistency is achieved.
Mix it with the dal batter . Add salt to taste and water asd required.


Allow the batter to ferment.Being in the US sometimes the batter does not ferment. So what i do is place the batter in the oven and leave the light on. The heat that the light generates helps in the fermentation process. I leave it overnight and by morning my batter is all fermented and ready :)


To make Idli's :


I don't have an idli cooker so i use my pressure pan. First oil the ildi plates or you can use a soft and clean white cloth over the plates. Pour the batter into the plate , place it in the pressure pan. Remember not to add the weight to the Pressure pan. If in high then 10 minutes would suffice for the idli to be cooked.
To check if the idli is ready , wet a finger in cold water , and make a hole in one idli. If there is no batter sticking on to your finger , your Idli is ready :).


Serve it with Idli podi , Sambhar or any variety of chutney.


In the pic , i served it with Homemade podi and Sambhar. Coconut or Onion chutney is also a very good combination for the idli.


My 9 month old has her idli with Ghee :P


Soft idli's make my mouth water :)........


Will be back soon with a recipe for my homemade podi too !!!!!!!!