Rava pongal, a popular breakfast dish from South-India. A savory dish, made with semolina and moong dal, served with sambar and chutney.
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What is Pongal?
Pongal is a popular south-indian breakfast dish. It can be made both sweet and savory. Khara pongal or venpongal, a savory dish made with rice and lentils, tempered with curry leaves, ginger and loads of black pepper and cumin. Sarkarai pongal, a sweet pongal made with rice and lentils and sweetened with jaggery.
Pongal, served with sambar and white chutney, is the most popular dish in marriage functions for breakfast. Since pongal is a no onion and no garlic dish, it is preferred as offerings during pooja days.
Pongal Varieties
Pongal can be made with variety of grains. Millet pongal is gaining lot of attention, with its health quotient. Barley pongal and couscous pongal are variations of khara pongal with other grains.
Under sweet pongal we have a rock candy/kalkandu pongal, broken wheat sarkarai pongal, thinai sarkarai pongal.
Today we are making the same delicious pongal with rava/sooji/semolina and lentils. Unlike other pongal varieties, where the grains and lentils can be pressure cooked together and tempered with spices, here the dal is cooked separately and mixed with rava.
That might be an extra step, but i can gurantee you a smooth and soft luscious rava pongal, that will be melt in mouth.
The Ingredients
- Sooji/Rava/Semolina, the hero ingredient of the dish. I have used roasted rava for this recipe.
- Moong dal, yet another important ingredient for khara pongal. I have used split yellow dal.
- Spices, pepper, cumin and ginger are the main spices in khara pongal recipe. I have used a green chili, just to oomph the flavor.
- Fat, ghee and oil are used liberally in pongal recipes. They add the necessary richness, softness required for the pongal. I have used 5 tablespoon altogether in this recipe, 3 tablespoon ghee and 2 tablespoon oil.
Step by Step Instructions to make Sooji Pongal
Please check recipe card below for exact measurements of each ingredient used and also for the detailed instructions
- Dry roast the moong dal to golden brown. Take care while roasting, keep the flame in medium and roast. Remove the dal and dry roast the sooji in the same pan for a minute.
- Pressure cook the roasted dal with twice the amount of water until soft. Let the pressure fall on its own.
- In a kadai, add ghee and oil, temper with cumin, green chili, curry leaves and chopped ginger. Add cashewnuts and freshly pounded black pepper to this.
- Add the cooked and mashed moong dal and water to this tempering. When it comes to a boil add salt, slowly add the roasted sooji/rava to this and mix well.
- Cover and cook for 5 minutes for the rava to cook and flavors to mingle well. Take of the cover and let it sit for another 2-3 minutes, add some ghee and oil mix well and take it off the heat.
- Serve the rava pongal with sambar and chutney.
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Recipe
Rava Pongal | Semolina Pongal | Sooji Pongal
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup moong dal split yellow lentils
- ⅔ cup Rava/Sooji/Semolina
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 cups water to cook the pongal
Tempering
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoon ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera
- 1 teaspoon black pepper pounded
- 1 no green chili cut into two
- ½ inch piece of ginger, chopped fine
- 6 nos cashewnuts
- few curry leaves
Instructions
- In a pan, dry roast the moong dal. Keep the flame in medium and roast. Take care not to burn the dal. It should turn golden brown. Take it off heat and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- In the same pan, dry roast the sooji. Keep the flame in medium and roast. Even though i m using roasted rava, i roast the rava/sooji for a few minutes for it to become nicely warm and toasty. Remove the roasted sooji/rava to another plate.
- Add twice amount of water, that is ⅔ cups of water to the moong dal and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles or until soft. Let the pressure drop on its own.
Let us make the pongal
- In a kadai, add ghee and oil given under tempering, do not skimp on the oil and ghee quantities, this ensures a soft and fluffy pongal.
- When the oil is heated, add cumin seeds, chopped chili, ginger and curry leaves. To this add cashew nuts and saute.
- When the nuts are about to turn golden brown, add freshly pounded pepper powder and the pressure cooked dal to this and mix well. Add 1.5 cups of water to this. Add salt and mix well.
- When the dal mix comes to a boil , reduce the flame, add the roasted rava to this slowly and mix. I used a whisk finally to whisk it all together without any lumps.
- Add the remaining ½ cup water, cover and cook in a medium flame, for 5 minutes. The rava will absorb all the liquid and will cook soft.
- Remove the cover, add the ghee and oil given under ingredients, mix well. Serve it warm with chutney and sambar.
Video
Notes
- Do not reduce the amount of ghee and oil used in the recipe to get a soft and fluffy pongal, that remains the same even after cooling down.
- The ratio of rava to water is 1:3, 1 cup of rava needs 3 cups of water to cook soft. So use water accordingly. If your moong dal is a bit watery, take that water too into count.
Disclaimer
I m not a Doctor or a Nutritionist The Nutrition information provided above comes from the plugin and is only an estimate.
Serve this delicious rava pongal with chutney and sambar of your choice. Any leftover pongal can be refrigerated for a day or two. Reheat the pongal in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute to enjoy a soft and fluffy rava pongal.
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Raks says
Both pongal and rava are my favorite,this is double dhamakha for me 🙂
Priya Sreeram says
good one !
Kurinji says
Yummy and delicious pongal...
Thanks for participate with my event....
Pongal Feast Event
Kurinji kathambam
Satya says
looks so tasty and soft
Satya
Super Yummy Recipes
Srivalli says
Looks good Priya..
kitchen queen says
lovely and delicious rava pongal for a change from the usual rice pongal.
Padma says
One of my fav tiffin... perfect with chutney sambar... looks yummm
Priya Suresh says
Inviting and delicious pongal..
Umm Mymoonah says
My all time favourite pongal with a twist looks very delicious.
Krishnaveni says
wow, so many pongal recipes looks yumm, you have created the festive mood......)))))
Anonymous says
Im looking for new ways to use sooji, and this looks perfect! Never had pongal with sooji before.
Rajani says
I am always surprised at the different ways we can reinvent the same recipes!! Pongal with rava is new for me, in fact most of the recipes I am catching up today is new for me
Unknown says
Delicious Pongal,luks perfect...
Aruna Manikandan says
looks delicious ....
chef and her kitchen says
Yummy pongal...looks perfect for breakfast
Kurinji says
Nice pongal....
Thanks for participate with my event....
Pongal Feast Event
Kurinji kathambam
kurinji kudil
Monika says
very nice
Harini Rupanagudi says
Pongal is a favorite of mine and I love to experiment with different combinations of cereals and dals and this one is one of the easiest, right? Love the pictures.
Radha says
This is comforting tiffin and we loved it. Thanks for sharing.
NARMADHA says
Absolutely in love with your Rava Pongal. I tried it yesterday for breakfast and it was absolutely melting in the mouth with perfect taste and texture. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
sushma pinjala says
Rava pongal sounds interesting and looks yummy too. Must try sometime.
Suma Gandlur says
I feel like grabbing that pongal plate of yours. This is healthier than the standard pongal version and a favorite at our home.