Rava Pongal

Rava Pongal is kind of a fusion of Rava Upma and Pongal. I was just looking thru my Meenakshi Ammal book when I saw this recipe. It was a surprise to me when I saw the title. I have never heard of the dish before. I decided to go ahead with it as it sounded interesting.

If you want to visualize how it tasted - think rava upma. Add the taste of pepper, cumin and ginger to it. That kind of what it felt like to me.



Ingredients

Rava (semolina) 2 cups
Moong dal 1/2 cup
Cashews few
Jeera 1 tsp
Pepper 1 tsp
Ginger 1 inch piece
Ghee 4 tbsp

Method of Preparation

1. Heat a pan and add the moong dal to it. Dry roast it for a little bit and then add some water. Cook till it is cooked, but still has its shape and is a little hard. Drain water and keep aside.

2. Heat another pan, add 2 tbsp of ghee. Add the rava and fry a little. Keep aside.

3. Make a course powder of jeera and pepper.

4. In the same pan, add the rest of the ghee. Add the cashews.

5. When it is slightly fried, add the chopped ginger and cumin/pepper powder.

6. Add 2 cups of water and salt.

7. When the water boils, simmer and add the rava. Cook a little.

8. Add the moong dal and cook till all the water is absorbed.

When I made it, is had a kind of dry texture to it. It did not have the mushy texture of rice pongal. Not sure if that was what the author intended. Ofcourse, if I add more water, it will get a little more bound together. We enjoyed this new tiffin.