Rava pongal recipe for pongal festival: I love Ven Pongal and my mom-in-law makes it really well. During their last visit, she made pongal with rava which was very new to me. Makes it a bit lighter than regular khara pongal which is quite heavy and I am usually not hungry at lunch time if I have pongal for breakfast. I would still eat though. When has not being hungry ever stopped some of us from eating, eh?
Anyway, I am almost leaning towards saying that I like rava pongal better than the regular pongal. It’s more creamy and if you add the recommended amount of ghee, which I must admit is a lot, it’s absolutely heavenly.
Rava pongal is best served with gotsu or arachuvitta sambar and chutney.
Rava Pongal Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups of rava / semolina
- 1/2 cup of moong dal cherupayar / paasi paruppu
- 1 tsp of black peppercorns
- 1 tsp of jeera / cumin seeds
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp of ghee / clarified butter
- 1/4 tsp of hing / perungaayam / asafoetida
- 10-12 cashew nuts halved
- A few curry leaves
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook the moong dal with 1.5 cups water until mushy and soft. Mash further with a fork or potato masher until there are no more lumps. Pressure cooker works quickest here and it really helps if you have time to soak the dal for an hour or so.
- Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan and add the pepper and jeera along with cashew nuts. Roast until the cashew nuts turn a golden brown and then add the semolina.
- Roast on low fire for about 5 mins until it begins to change colour to a light brown.
- At this stage, add the salt and hing. Mix well.
- Next, add the cooked moong dal. Mix to incorporate and lower the flame.
- Meanwhile, bring 2.5 cups of water to boil in another pan.
- Add the boiling water to the rava-moong dal mixture. Mix well to incorporate.
- Then add the 1/4 cup ghee.
- Stir well to combine and in about 3-4 mins, you will see the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan.
- Rave pongal is ready. Serve hot with gotsu, sambar, or chutney
How to Make Rava Pongal Step by Step:
1. Cook the moong dal with 1.5 cups water until mushy and soft. Mash further with a fork or potato masher until there are no more lumps. Pressure cooker works quickest here.
2. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in pan and add the pepper and jeera along with cashew nuts. Roast until the cashew nuts turn a golden brown and then add the rava. Roast on low fire for about 5mins until it begins to change colour to a light brown.
3. At this stage, add the salt and hing. Mix well.
4. Then add the cooked moong dal. Mix to incorporate and lower the flame.
5. Meanwhile, bring 2.5 cups of water to boil in another pan.
6. Add the boiling water to the rava-moong dal mixture. Mix well to incorporate.
Then add the 1/4 cup ghee.
7. Stir well to combine and in about 3-4 mins, you will see the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan.
Serve hot!
The best combination for rava pongal, or any type of pongal, is gothsu which I haven’t tried before. We had it for dinner with some vengaya kara kozhambu with coconut milk which went beautifully with the rava pongal.
For rava pongal recipe in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, etc please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.
Anonymous
Hi,
When you say 2 cups, how much does a cup hold? I tried this today but I guess the ingredients were not proportional.
Can you pls mention what you mean by a cup in grams as a reference.
Nagalakshmi V
i am not sure of grams but my one cup holds 250ml liquid. Also, in recipes like this rava pongal, ingredients are approximate. We don't really measure every single thing before adding – a just note to keep in mind. What happened to your rava pongal?
Anonymous
I guess the water was not enough. It felt raw and undercooked.
Will try it again and let you know. Thanks 🙂
Nagalakshmi V
oops! sorry to hear that. the type and texture or rava also makes a difference to the amount of water needed.
Jyoti
Ally..I add it in step 2 right when you begin with pepper, cumin and cashews!
Nags..this is so awesome..I have made it twice already. It's a great quick dinner with dal. I make it with very less olive oil and about a teaspoon of ghee…and it's so good. would taste so much better with more ghee…yummmmmmm!!
ally
when do we add the curry leaves??
manjooo
looks so perfect 🙂
jeyashrisuresh
Few years back I tried this but i completely forgot abt this dish. Easy and tempting dish
suhaina aji
looks fabulous..