Rawa Pongal

How to make Rawa Pongal

                  You've possibly tried the Rawa Upma that is commonly made at home and the popular Pongal that's typically made with rice; but have you tasted Rawa Pongal? If Indian cuisine is new to you, you can relate this dish to the popular Grits, except that this is made from wheat grits, lentils, veggies & flavored with Indian spices. This is a colorful, flavorful & tasty Pongal, can be served as such or with an accompaniment of your choice & has all the qualities to make it on the list of your family favorite. For those who haven't heard about this before - this pongal is creamy, moist & soft. Add veggies of your choice to make it healthy & nutritious.

Ingredients

Bombay Rawa (or any medium grain Rava)- 1 cup
Green Gram Dal (Paasi Paruppu)- 1/2 cup
Diced Carrots & peas - 1/2 cup each (Optional)
Sliced Onion - 1
Diced Tomato - 1
Chopped Ginger - 1 Tbsp.
Chopped Green chillies - 1
Water - 3 cups (for the rawa)
Oil - 2 Tbsp or less
Salt - as needed
Curry Leaves
Cashew nuts - a few
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Black Pepper - 1 tsp.
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Ghee/Oil - 1 Tbsp.

• Pressure cook the green gram dal until soft with 1 cup of water & set aside.
• Heat a pan with oil & add pepper, cumin seeds followed by ginger, green chillies, cashew nuts, curry leaves & saute.
• Now add onions & saute until light brown, add salt & vegetables & cook until half done. Finally add tomatoes & saute lightly (don't cook until it gets mushy), followed by turmeric powder & rawa and roast well.

• Meanwhile in another vessel, heat 3 cups of water & add the cooked dal to it & bring to a rolling boil.

• When the rawa is well roasted & hot (needs to be very hot), pour the boiling dal water into the hot rawa mixture, stirring continuously to avoid lumps.

• IMPORTANT - If the rawa mixture & the dal water are not piping hot while mixing, it will get sticky & lumpy and is difficult to rectify.
• Serve hot with any Kosthu, Chutney or Sambhar. 



Rawa Pongal with Coconut Chutney & Sambhar

Sharing this recipe with Sri Valli's CCChallenge #7: April week 4. This recipe has been adapted from a recipe by Mrs. Revathi Shanmugam which was jotted down in my diary.