Pongal - Festival and Recipes

We, South Indians, await our main festival Pongal with great glee as this is the time we get to interact with family, cousins and extended family members. Spread over four days, between 14^th to 17^th January this year, it is the time we reverently worship the forces of nature like the Sun and the rain and thank them for giving us a plentiful harvest.

On the first day, we pray to Lord Indra for giving us adequate rain. Bhogi pongal, as this tradition is called, is full of joy and merriment. It is fascinating to watch young girls dance around a bonfire kept burning with mud, wood and cowdung. Prayers are offered to the Sun God on the second day marking the main festival of Pongal. On this day we create beautiful rangolis with rice flour in front of the house and wear new traditional clothes. We wait for the auspicious time, to tie a turmeric plant around a curved pot and decorate it with haldi kumkum. Milk is allowed to boil and overflow in this vessel symbolically for prosperity and well being to overflow in the family.

 A delicious sweet porridge of milk, rice, dhal and sugar is prepared as offering for the Sun God along with sugarcane, and the mandatory betel leaves, betel nuts, coconut and yellow bananas.  Mattu Pongal follows on the third day when prayers are offered to the cows which help the farmers in so many ways. Everywhere in Tamil Nadu, we can see colorful sights of cows decorated with garlands and tilak wearing a string of colourful beads and bells around the cow’s neck. Puja and arati is performed. The famous Jalli kattu or bull fight is also organized in villages. Kannum Pongal is a traditional feature on the final day, when a turmeric leaf is washed and kept in the open courtyard on which rice, betel leaves, nuts, turmeric, coconut etc. are placed. In some places, arati is performed for the brothers by the sisters, who pray for the prosperity of their families.

As we all know no festival is complete without food delicacies and Pongal is no exception. The Sakkarai Pongal and the Venn Pongal are symbolic of the festival, simple and delicious, yet highly nutritious too.

Here are the recipes for you to prepare and enjoy.

Sakkarai Pongal

Ingredients:

Raw Rice – 1 cup
Yellow Moong Dhal – 1/4 cup
Milk – 1 litre
Jaggery – 2 cups (grated)
Cashews – 3 tablespoons
Raisins – 3 tablespoons
Powdered Cardamom – ½ teaspoon
Ghee – 3 tablespoons


Method:

Roast the moong dhal in a teaspoon of ghee till it slightly changes color. Remove on to a bowl and soak it along with raw rice in water for 10 minutes. Strain it to remove water.

Take a vessel and boil milk. Add  the soaked and strained rice and dhal to the milk and cook on low flame till the rice is cooked. Mash it up with a spoon and keep aside.

Add the jaggery to water and bring to a boil. Strain to remove impurities. Add this jaggery water to the milk, rice and dhal mixture. Stir well on a low flame till they are completely mixed.

Take a pan and pour the rest of the ghee in it. Fry Cashews and raisins in the ghee to a golden brown and add the pongal mixture. Stir  on low flame till they blend well. Add cardomom powder and mix.

Your Sakkarai Pongal is ready to serve.

Venn Pongal

Ingredients

Yellow Moong Dhal – 1/2  cup

Raw Rice -  3/4 cup

Ghee – ¼ cup

Cashewnuts – 2 tablespoons

Ginger sliced or minced – ½ teaspoon

Green chilly chopped -1 (optional)

Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper – 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Salt to taste

Method

Roast the moong dhal in a teaspoon of ghee till it slightly changes color and gives off a lovely smell. Remove on to a bowl and soak it along with raw rice in water for 10 minutes. Cook the dhal and rice together in a pressure cooker with 3 ½ cups of water for 6 to 7 whistles. Grind the pepper and cumin to a coarse powder after dry roasting.

 Heat the ghee in a pan. Fry the broken cashew nuts to a golden brown. Add ginger, curry leaves and green chilly (optional). Roast on a low flame. Add in the pepper-cumin mixture and roast for a few seconds. Pour the cooked rice-dhal mixture and add salt to taste. Stir till the entire mixture blends well.

Your Venn Pongal is ready to serve.