Milagu Pongal Recipe

Add the measured quantities of rice and dhal in two separate vessels and soak it for about twenty minutes after rinsing it well. Take a thick bottomed pot (vengala panai) and pour in four and a half to five cups of water and place it over a stove. Turn on and let the flame be in high mode. When the water starts to boil, plop in the soaked dal and stir in and gently alter the flame to low medium mode. Keep stirring now and then with a long ladle and let it get cooked for a few minutes.

After a while, when the dhal gets cooked up well, gently squirt in the soaked rice and stir in for about ten to fifteen minutes on and off. After some time, when the rice gets cooked up well, sprinkle in the required salt and stir well. Let it get boiled for a while and when the rice turns mushy and aromatic just do the tempering.

Heat a small pan and pour in a tablespoon of ghee and after a few seconds add the measured quantities of peppercorns, cumin seeds, grated ginger and curry leaves. Tip in a pinch of asafoetida along with it and finally throw in some roughly torn curry leaves and let it all to sizzle for a second or two. Gently add the tempered ingredients to the rice while it still splutters and at last do the garnishing. Heat the small pan again and tip in one or two tablespoons of ghee as per your requirement, and when it is heated add some cashew nuts and when it turns golden brown plop it into the pongal. Now the delicious milagu pongal is ready to serve.

Take a lush green plantain leaf and wash it well. Take a ladle full of milagu pongal and place it at the middle of plantain leaf while it is still hot and sizzling. Sprinkle a few drops of ghee on top and serve it along with shallots sambhar, coconut chutney and medu vada.