Khara Pongal

While we were in school, sundays would be a  busy day. Mom had to manage us and watch her favourite serials (Ramayan, Mahabharath)  and so for quite some years the standard breakfast on sunday was Pongal. I suppose it was easy to make for mom and pongal  would keep our stomach full  for quite sometime. I love the version she makes, it's probably mysore style, it's hot and spicy unlike the tamil venpongal ( I may post that version later). She ground the masala for it. I often make this at home for dinner.

What you need:
1 1/2 cups of rice
1/2 cup moong dal
curry leaves
2 tablespoon ghee
cashews to garnish  (optional)

To grind:
2  tablespoon of cumin
2 teaspoon black pepper
2 green chillies
1/4 cup  coconut
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
few strands of coriander (cilantro) leaves

How it's Made :
Grind the ingredients listed to a course paste. Heat pressure cooker and dry roast the moong dal,until it turns golden brown and gives off a nice aroma. Take it off and wash it along with rice and keep it aside. Heat ghee  in the same cooker, add curry leaves and the ground paste, fry it for a minute. Add the washed rice and moong dal, and mix the ingredients well. Add salt and 4 cups of water. Close the lid and cook like usual white rice. Once done stir the rice. Garnish with cashews fried in ghee and some freshly grated coconut and cilantro. Serve hot with coconut chutney.
If you don't have pressure cooker fry all the ingredients in pan, add rice and transfer it to rice cooker.

Tips- use raw rice, basmati rice doesn't taste that good.