Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamilians all over the world. It is a four day celebration in January. In the south of India, families and people of all ages gather to celebrate. The first day is Bhogi, where people clean their homes, taking all the trash and setting fire to it. The sound of loud drums can be heard all throughout the night. The second day is when they make various rice dishes. Women wake up early to clean their yard in preparation to cook the Pongal later that day. They decorate the yard with a pattern known as Rangoli or Kolam. In the house, they decorate using sugar cane and turmeric saplings, and mango leaves are hung from the ceiling. Once this is all finished, they begin cooking the first rice of the harvest. The third day, or Mattu Pongal, in which the cattle that have helped with harvesting are decorated and lead through the streets. The final day, Kaanam Pongal, is when families visit families bringing gifts and celebrate the holiday. Here are two rice dishes that are cooked during the celebrations - Kara Pongal (Spicy Rice) and Sweet Pongal (Sweet Rice). For the sweet pongal recipe, check out the next post!
KARA PONGAL
What you'll need:
1 cup soaked rice
1 cup soaked green gram
1 small onion (chopped)
1 small tomato (chopped)
A few sprigs of mint (chopped) optional
A few sprigs of coriander leaves (chopped)
2 green chili peppers (chopped)
2 sprigs of curry leaves
1/2 tsp. of mustard
1 tsp. of soaked urad dhal (black gram)
1 tsp. of kali jeera
1 tsp. of cumin powder
1 tsp. of salt
1 tsp. of ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp. of tumeric powder
1 tbsp. of black pepper (depending on how spicy you want it)
2 tbsp. of ghee ( or butter or oil)
1/2 cup fried cashew nuts (optional)
How to make:
1. Take a 5 liter pressure cooker (why? Because it locks in the flavors and it's finished in half the time!).
2. Melt the ghee, butter, or oil. When hot, put in the mustard, urad dhal, kali jeera, and black pepper.
3. Once mustard starts to splatter, put in the onions, green chili, mint, curry leaves, ginger garlic paste. Fry for a minute. Put in tomato. Fry for another minute.
4. Then put in soaked rice and green gram. Fry for a minute.
5. Mix well and pour 4-5 cups of water into pressure cooker. CLose and wait for it to whistle once or for one ring to show up.
6. Lower the tempterature to medium-low for 15-20 minutes. Then put stove on low heat for 10 minutes.
7. Kara Pongal is finished and ready to eat!
Enjoy