Ven Pongal

There are million ways to celebrate your love's birthday but i chose this one,no cakes,no candles just his favourite breakfast(pongal) combined with his passion...:)Yes,there sprouted the idea of PONGAL BALL!!PH is a football fanatic and he was really surprised to see this.Though I badly wanted to bake a football cake,I was not able to find a football shaped  mould in the grocery stores nearby me, may be next time he might be lucky to have a real football cake!! Here goes the recipe...

INGREDIENTS:

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Yellow moong dhal - 1/2 cup
• Ghee - 2 Tbsp 
• Salt - as needed
• Water - 4 cups

Tempering Ingredients:

• Asafoetida  -  2 pinches
• Ginger(chopped) - 1.5 tsp
• Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
• Pepper corns - 2 tsp
• Cashewnuts - 7 
• Curry leaves - 1 strand

METHOD:

1. Roast the yellow moong dhal without any oil for a few minutes till it emits nice aroma.
2. Wash the rice and add it along with the roasted moong dhal in a pressure cooker.Add required salt and 4 cups of water in a  pressure cooker.Cook for 3 to 4 whistles depending on the texture you prefer.
3. Meanwhile heat ghee in a pan and roast the cashews until it is slighty golden brown.Keep it aside.Then,roast pepper corns for a few seconds followed by cumin seeds,chopped ginger,curry leaves and asafoetida,
4. Once the whistle is released,open the pressure cooker and mash the pongal with the back of a laddle or a masher.Add the roasted ingredients along with roasted cashews and give it a mix.
5. Serve hot with chutney or pongal sambhar,Enjoy!!

SCRIBBLED NOTES:

• Increase or decrease the amount of water depending upon the texture you need.
• I added extra pepper corns for the sake of decoration!! :-) 

And finally pongal ball cake was cut and dipped in sambar and chutney frostings...;)

Sending it to:

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