Delicious Recipes for Pongal!

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Lemon Rice

Ingredients

• 1 cup basmati rice
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4  tsp turmeric powder
• 1 and half salt

Tempering

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp bengal gram dal
• 3 dry,red chillies-broken into pieces
• few curry leaves

Preparation

• Wash rice. Take a large pan then boil 6 cups water with 1 tsp salt, then add rice. Cook it till just done.do not overcook. Strain the rice in a big metal strainer. Spread on a tray and run a fork to separate grains. Let it cool.
• Add lemon juice, turmeric powder, salt and sugar.
• Take a kadhai and put oil then heat it. Add mustard seeds, dal and red chillies. Cook it on very low heat till dal just starts changing  colour.
• Add curry leaves, the lemon juice  mixture, 1/4 cup water. Cover it.Cook it on low heat till dal turns soft and the water dries. Then add cooked rice and mix it very carefully. Stir it for 2-3 min. Don't forget to check salt and serve hot.

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Sweet Pongal

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice
• 3 tbsp yellow moong dal
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups water
• 1 and half cups grated jaggery (gur) or liquid
• 3/4 cup chopped mixed dry fruits
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh coconut
• seeds of 6 green cardamoms-crushed
• 4 tbsp ghee

Preparation

• Take a kadhai, put rice and dal, then dry roast for 4-5 min on medium heat.
• Remove it from kadhai. Put it in a pressure cooker then add the milk and water. First pressure cook to allow 3 whistles then reduce heat and keep on low heat for 1-2 min. Remove it and let the pressure drop by itself.
• Again take a kadhai add the jaggery with 1 and half cups water. Cook it for 5-7 min till get a nice golden coloured syrup then keep aside.
• Open the cooker and add add the jaggery syrup to the rice-dal. Mix it very well and stir on low heat for 5 min. Then remove from heat.
• Take clean vessel, put on ghee and heat it then add the chopped nuts. Fry it on medium heat till they change colour. Then add the cooked pongal (rice-dal) and crushed cardamoms. Mix it very well.

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Dakshani Aloo

Ingredients

• 4 potatoes -peeled and cut into thin long pieces
• 1/4 cup peanuts-splits into 2 pieces
• 1 cup freshly grated coconut
• 3-4 tbsp oil.
• 1tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds(rai)
• 15-20 curry leaves
• 4 green chillies-cut into thin strips
• 1 tbsp salt
• pinch of turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Preparation

• Take a frying pan and pour 4 cups of water. Then add 1/2 tsp salt and the potatoes strips,boil it for 5 min till tender but firm.
• Take a non stick frying pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and the peanuts then stir it on medium heat till light golden.
• After that add golden chilli and curry leaves. Then add the potatoes and stir it till it is well coated in oil. Cook it dry for 1-2 min.
• Add salt, turmeric and grated coconut then mix it very well. Then cook it for 5-7 min on medium heat. Starring all the time. Remove from heat and sprinkle lemon juice. Serve hot.

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Masala Dosai

Ingredients

• Par Boiled rice - 2 cups
• Raw rice - 2cups
• Urud Dal - 1 cup
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp.

Preparation

• Rinse the above ingredients in water for about 2-3 hours.Then grind in a blender (with adding water in steps) into a very fine flour.
• Add salt and keep it aside (to get sour) for 12 hours.
• Heat the pan and spread a drop of oil on it. When the pan is fully heated, take some flour and spread it on the pan into a round shape. Turn it over so that both sides are cooked well.
• When it is almost cooked spread a teaspoon of coconut chutney over it. Place some potato curry and roll the dosai on both sides and move it to a plate.

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Rajma Curry

Ingredients

• 1 can red kidney Beans.
• 1 large Tommato.
• 2 medium sized Carrots.
• 1 Capsicum.
• 1 large Onion.

Preparation

• Cut carrots and tomatoes and boil for a few minutes till the raw smell disappears. Grate it to a fine paste in the blender. Cut onions and capsicum into fine pieces and fry them in a little oil till the onion turns golden brown.
• Add the tomato-carrot paste to this. Add 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp garam masala powder, salt to taste.
• Pour some water in the mixture so that the gravy is not too thick. When the gravy begins to boil, add the boiled rajma and simmer for a few minutes till the rajma mixes well with the gravy.
• Serve with chapathis or rice.

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Badam Cake

Ingredients

• Almonds - 1 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup(very finely powdered)
• Ghee - 2 tsp.

Preparation

• Soak the almonds for an hour. Drain. Remove the skin and grind into a thick smooth paste adding minimum water.
• In a thick vessel, mix sugar and 1/4 cup water and heat. When the sugar is completely melted, add this paste and cook this for five minutes.
• Add ghee and remove from fire.
• Pour it on a large palate and smoothen the surface of the mixture with a roller.
• Then cut with a knife by drawing parallel lines in the form of cubes.

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Milk Payasam

Ingredients

• 1 litre of Milk.
• 1/4 cup of raw Rice.
• 1 cup Sugar.
• 1/2 tsp powdered Cardamom.
• Some Cashew nuts.
• Ghee.

Preparation

• Heat one litre of milk and when it boils and starts to rise add raw rice.
• Keep in low heat with constant stirring until the quantity reduces to one-half.
• Add sugar and powdered cardamom.
• Roast cashew nuts and raisins in ghee and add it to the payasam.

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Rice Payasam

Ingredients

• Basmati Rice
• Chopped almonds(combined) - 4 tsp.
• Milk - 2 cups
• Coconut extract - 1 cup
• Evaporated milk - 1 tin
• Sugar - 1 &1/2 cups
• Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp.

Preparation

• Soak rice for 15 minutes.
• Allow the milk and coconut extract to boil, add the soaked rice and cook.
• After it is cooked, add sugar, cardamom powder and almonds and let it boil for 5 minutes.
• Add the evaporated milk and let it boil.

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