Breakfast Series: Wheat Bulgur Khara Pongal and Sweet Pongal (Samba Godhumai Ven Pongal and Sakkarai Pongal)

Pongal is a popular breakfast / brunch item across south india, we pair pongal with chutney, vada, brinjal curry and sometimes raita. Pongal is normally prepared with rice but we can use wheat bulgur for healthy option.

Wheat Bulgur Pongal Recipe Video on Vidyascooking

Ingredients:

2 Coffee Tumbler = 250 Grams Wheat Bulgur

1 1/3 Coffee Tumbler = 200 Grams Mung Dhal (Mung Beans)

2 1/2 Coffee Tumbler = 350 Grams Organic Powdered Jaggery from Farmz to Familiez

1 Inch Ginger Grated

1 1/2 Tbsp Black Pepper Crushed

1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds

4 Sprigs Curry Leaves

4 Green Chilies Slit

20 to 25 Cashews 

2 Tbsp Raisins 

4 Pods Cardamom

1/4 Tsp Asafoetida

1 Pinch Edible Camphor (Pachai Karpooram) 

Oil and Ghee as Required

Salt as per taste...

Prep:

Dry roast the wheat bulgur till good aroma releases and the color starts to change a bit to white. Remove from flame and reserve on a plate.

Dry roast the mung dhal till good aroma releases and the color starts to change a bit to light golden. Remove from flame and reserve on a plate.

Measure, combine both the wheat and mung dhal wash thrice and add 7 cups water and place in a pressure cooker.

Cook the wheat and dhal for 3 to 4 whistles or until both the ingredients are mushy to the touch.

Peel, wash and grate the ginger. Crush the pepper and reserve. Slit the green chilies and reserve.

Measure and add the jaggery to a pot with 1 cup warm water. Place on low flame  keep stirring until the jaggery melts.

Using a strainer, strain the melted jaggery and reserve.

To Prepare Sweet Pongal:

Heat a wok with 2 tbsp oil and 1 large heaping spoon full ghee. 

Add 10 split cashews and raisins to the ghee and oil and fry until the cashews turn golden in color. Drain the cashews and raisins from oil and reserve on a plate.

Add crushed cardamom to the hot oil and fry few seconds. Add half the amount of cooked wheat and dhal to the wok and fry for a minute, breaking out any lumps while stirring. 

Add the melted jaggery and 1 cup water stir, bring to rapid boil.

Crush and add a pinch of edible camphor to the pongal and stir.

Allow the pongal to reduce and absorb most of the moisture on medium to high flame.

Just before serving garnish with fried cashews and raisins, top with two more tbsp full ghee and serve hot...Enjoy 😉

To Prepare Khara / Pepper Pongal:

Heat a heavy bottom pot on medium flame. Add 2 Tbsp oil and 1 tbsp ghee. Add 10 to 15 split cashews to the ghee and oil and fry till golden. Drain the cashews and reserve.

To the heated oil and ghee add the grated ginger, crushed pepper, slit green chilies, curry leaves, asafoetida and cumin seeds, fry all the ingredients until raw flavor from ginger reduces.

Add salt as per taste and 1 1/2 cups water to the masala mix, bring to rapid boil. Add the other half of cooked wheat and dhal stir and break down any lumps. Cover and cook until excess moisture is absorbed.

Garnish the pongal with fried cashews and two full tbsp ghee, serve hot with chutney and medu vada...Enjoy 😊

 

Pongal Recipes Posted on Vidyacooking Channel 😊

Rice Ven-Pongal Recipe

Rice Sakkarai Pongal Recipe

Pongal Cheese Balls Recipe

Semiya Pongal Recipe

Festival Recipes: Fruit Curd Rice Recipe

Friends and family who have tasted this dish in my house have constantly messaged me over the years for this recipe. We prepare this curd rice specially for dinner parties, ganesh chaturthi and pongal festival. 

Cook the rice:
I've used 1 coffee tumbler sona masuri rice. Washed the rice thrice and added to a pot which will fit in the pressure cooker.

Using the same coffee tumbler measure add 2 tumbler measure water and soak the rice for 15 minutes.

Using same coffee tumbler measure reserve 1 cup milk.

Combine the milk in the rice along with 1/2 tsp salt after 15 minutes and place in pressure cooker. 

Cover and place the whistle, cook for 3 whistles or until the rice is mushy.

Once the rice is cooked remove from flame allow to reach room temperature.

Recipe Video: Subscribe to me on Youtube English and Tamil Channels for regular updates 😊

Ingredients for Fruit Curd Rice:
1/4 Cup Pomegranate seeds
1/4 Cup Peeled, Deseeded and Finely Chopped Cucumber
1/4 Cup Grapes
1/4 Cup Apple
10 Raisins 
10 Cashews 
1 Sprig Curry Leaves
3 Sprigs Coriander Leaves (Finely Chopped)
2 Green Chilies (Finely Chopped)
1 Inch Ginger (Peeled and Finely Chopped)
1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tsp Mustard Seeds
1 Dry Red Chili
1/4 Tsp Asafoetida
2 Cups Yogurt
Salt as per taste
Cheery for garnish
2 Tbsp Oil...

Method:
Combine half the amount of yogurt to the rice and mix well add salt as per taste.

Add all the fruits and raisins mix and reserve.

Heat a fry pan with oil on medium flame. 

Add mustard and cumin to the hot oil allow to splutter.

Add ginger, curry leaves, chilies and asafoetida fry all the ingredients.

Add cashews and fry till light golden in color.

Remove the tempering from flame allow to reach room temperature.

Add the other half amount of yogurt to the rice along with salt as per taste.

Add the tempering and mix well. Serve the fruit curd rice chilled of room temperature...either ways this curd rice is an excellent dish to serve after a spicy main course...Enjoy 😊

Sunday Brunch Recipe Series: Semiya Pongal + Medu Vada + Coconut Chutney Recipe

We don't need a ten course restaurant brunch to make our Sunday special but a simple traditional home cooked food is always soul satisfying. I have compiled a list of easy to prepare recipes for this series, topping my list was semiya pongal. We can prepare so many sides with semiya pongal but traditional way is to serve it with medu vadas and chutney. 

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Ingredients for Semiya Pongal:
1 Cup Wheat Vermicelli
1/2 Cup Split Mung Beans (Moong dal)
2 Green Chillies (slit) 
2 Sprigs Curry Leaves
1 Tbsp Crushed Black Peppercorns
1 Tsp Cumin 
1 Pinch Asafoetida
2 Tbsp Oil and 1 Tbsp Clarified Butter(ghee)
Salt to taste
2 Cups Water (Boiling water)

Ingredients for Coconut Chutney:
1/2 Cup Fresh Coconut
1/4 Cup Roasted Bengal Gram
2 Pods Garlic
3 Green Chilies
2 Sprigs Curry Leaves
1/4 Tsp Tamarind Pulp
1 Tbsp Mustard
1/4 Tsp Asafoetida
Salt as per taste
1 Tbsp Oil

Prep:
Heat a wok on medium flame. Dry roast the vermicelli on low flame till it turns light pink in color and set aside.

Using the same wok add the moong dal constantly keep stirring and dry roast the dal on low flame till the dal turns light pink in color. 

Wash the dal thrice, add to pressure cooker with 1 1/2 cups or 2 cups water cover and cook for 3 whistles or until the dal has cooked.

Dry roasting the dhal and vermicelli will enhance the flavor. Roasted vermicelli is always good for any vermicelli based dish it will cook to perfection. 

Method to Prepare Coconut Chutney:
Wash and Chop fresh Coconut into tiny pieces. Peel the Garlic.

In mixer jar add the chopped coconut, tamarind, roasted bengal gram, garlic, chillies and salt pulse and grind to form a coarse paste.

Add a splash of water and grind the coconut to smooth consistency. 

Heat a fry pan with 1 tbsp oil once the oil is hot add mustard seeds allow to splutter.Add black gram dal and fry for a minute. 

Add curry leaves, red chillies and asafoetida fry for few seconds, temper the chutney and serve. 

We can prepare this chutney ahead of time and store in a sir tight container refrigerated up to 3 days.

During mango season we also prepare coconut and mango chutney which is a family favorite served for pongal. Recipe Blog Link 😊

Method to Prepare Semiya Pongal:
Heat a wok on medium flame and add oil and ghee allow to reach temperature.

Add the cumin and black peppercorns fry till the cumins starts to splutter.

Add curry leaves, hing(Asafoetida), chillies and ginger fry till raw flavor from ginger reduces.

Add water and salt as per taste, bring to a boil.

Add vermicelli bring to a boil allow to cook till half done.

Add  cooked dal and mix well, bring to a boil allow to cook till semiya has softened. Moisture content should also reduce in the semiya.

Once the moisture reduces check for salt add if needed...Serve hot with coconut chutney or lemon pickles...Enjoy 😉

Uddina Vada/Medu Vada/Spicy Indian Doughnuts Recipe Link

Tips: 
1. Prepare the medu vada batter ahead of time and store in airtight container refrigerated until use.
2. We can cook the dal ahead of time and store it refrigerated until use.
3. Prepare coconut chutney and freeze until use. Thaw  and serve.
4. Use hot water it will reduce the cooking time.
5. Check for salt constantly in all dishes add accordingly.
6. Do not add masala, onions and salt to medu vada batter until use. Add all the ingredients before frying.

Pongal Cheeseballs

Pongal Cheese balls is wonderful teatime snack. I must thank foodhall for this wonderful snack idea, I first tasted this pongal cheeseballs there, totally impressed with the innovation and planned to create this dish for pongal. I bet there are a lot of left overs from pongal festival creating new dishes and impressing family with new snacks is always fun try this recipe its healthy and good way to clean up all the leftovers.

All the recipes are translated and posted on Youtube Tamil too..

I'm very proud to say that this entire recipe along with video is reordered using ASUS Zenfone6. This is the first time ever I'm using a smart phone might sound silly but I've always struck with the basic model phone. The truth behind the story is I'm a very absentminded person and cant afford loosing a costly smart phone. I've lost costly phones in the past and this was a good opportunity for me to explore the smart phone for just a weeks time and then decide if I would really require a smart phone.

Being a blogger I'm always dependent on my DSLR for pics and videos. DSLR's are bulky for sure it also requires constant manual focus time consuming and stressful at times. There are times when I've wished for a pocket or smart phones for small shoots.

I was totally impressed with the 720p video recording since this is my first video there might be few flaws here and there but with time I bet I can get the phone to record according to what I want. ASUS also comes with a front and back camera options. Easy to use pics and and video setting features is apt for any blogger on the go.

What i was totally impressed was the easy to use movie editor... record video and transfer the file to the movie editor with is 5 minutes i was able to edit the movie after the shoot. The best part was I could mute the back ground voice and noise to do a voice over and record my voice on google voice recorder or the inbuilt Asus application sound recorder for the video and after the effects and voice over was able to export  the video to YouTube all of this done in a fraction. I saved at least 2 hours of my time.

Editing pics is always a pain. ASUS pic editing features are amazing from HDR to Low light pics..gifs to smart flaws removal is all done in a jiffy..I'm truly impressed with what all can be accomplished in 1 hours time. I will be posting a detail review on the phone soon.

Video Recipe Posted in English

Video created using ‪#‎MyAsusZenFone‬ ‪#‎zenfone6‬ ‪#‎Asus‬

Ingredients:
1 Cup Left over Ven Pongal
2-3 Cheese Cubes Cut into small pieces
3-4 Tbsp Maida/All purpose flour
1 Cup Bread Crumbs

For garnish Coconut chutney and coriander.

Method:

• Remove the curry leaves few pepper corn and chilies from the pongal.
• Mix the pongal well if there is moisture add few tbsp of bread crumbs mix well add salt if need and reserve.
• Mix maida with little bit of water and prepare a batter.
• Take a portion of the pongal place the cheese in the middle and cover with pongal roll into a roundel.
• Now dip the roundel into the batter and then roll it in bread crumbs. follow this step twice.
• Place the breaded cheeseballs in the fridge for 10 minutes to set.
• Place oil in a wok on medium flame once the oil is hot gently drop the cheese balls in oil fry a bit and gently turn with soft hands fry till golden brown drain the excess oil and reserve on a paper towel.
• Serve the cheese balls hot with chutney...Enjoy...:)  

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Ven-Pongal Recipe

Wishing everyone a very Happy Pongal/Makar Sankranti. Pongal is a staple breakfast item across south its healthy and very rich.

Posted demo recipe video I translate and post the same videos in tamil channel subscribe to me on both my video channel..

Ingredients:

1 Cup Rice

3/4 Cup Split Moong Dhal(split mung beans)

3 to 4 Green Chilles Slit

10 to 15 Cashews

2 Sprigs Curry Leaves

1 Inch Ginger Crushed

1/2 Tbsp Pepper Corns

1 Tbsp Cumin seeds

1/4 Tsp Asafoetida

3 Tbsp Ghee

2 Tbsp Oil

Salt as per taste

Please note: if you want to make equal proportion of dhal and rice that will also taste good. the liquid proportion is 1 cup of grains add 4 cups water if you want it sloppy. If you want the rice bit grainy then add 3 cups water.

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Method:

• Wash and soak the rice and dhal for 10 minutes.
• Heat a pressure cooker on low flame add 2 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp ghee.
• Add crushed ginger and fry a bit add pepper and cumin fry a bit.
• Add slit chilies and curry leaves fry a bit.
• Add the rice and dhal stir and fry a bit add 41/2 to 5 cups water add salt and place the cover and whistle.
• Cook for 3 to 4 whistles allow the pressure to settle on its own this is a key step to follow do not force open the cooker the pongal consistency is not the same if its force opened.
• Heat a fry pan add ghee and cashew nuts fry till light golden and temper the pongal mix well and serve hot with vada and chutney...Enjoy...:)

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This is the first time ever I'm using a smart phone and truly enjoyed using ASUS Zenfone 6 will post more pics and videos from this phone.

This pic was taken form Zenfone6‪#‎MyAsusZenFone‬ ‪#‎zenfone6‬ ‪#‎Asus‬.

For Medu Vada Recipe Please Click Here

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Sakkarai Pongal/Sweet Pongal(Sihi Pongal)

 Anaivarukkum Iniya Pongal Nalvazhthukkal!!!!

Do view the recipe video.

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Rice + 1/2 Cup Moong Dhal

1 Cup Jaggery

3 Pods Cardamom

10 Cashew-nuts

10 Raisins

3+1 Tbsp Ghee

Edible camphor is also used in this pongal if you wish too add a small piece.

Please note for every 1 cup of rice and dhal add 4 cups water or you can also add 3 cups water and 1 cup milk this way the pongal has perfect consistency and is cooked to a mushy consistency.

Method:

• Wash the rice and dhal soak the rice and dhal for 10 minutes.
• Melt the jaggery with 1/4 cup water on low flame keep stirring until the jaggery melts.
• Using a tea strainer strain the jaggery this will remove the stone or any dust in the jaggery.
• Now drain the excess water for the rice and add to the pressure cooker add 4 cups water the cardamom pods cover and cook for 4 whistles.
• Place a fry pan on low flame heat ghee add the cashew and raisins fry a bit and reserve.
• Once the rice is cooked using back of the spoon mash it a bit add the jaggery and mix well.
• Place the rice back on low flame stir and cook for 5 minutes make sure it does not turn into a lump the rice must be a bit flowy.
• Garnish the rice with cashew raisins and ghee mix and serve hot...Enjoy...:)

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