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Home > Festival Dishes > Paal Pongal | Pongal Special
50 minutes

Paal Pongal | Pongal Special

Last updated January 11, 2018. Originally posted January 12, 2016 By Jyothi Rajesh 15 Comments

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As traditional as it gets this paal pongal is THE MOST popular dishes made during pongal festival. Traditionally it’s made from fresh harvested rice. Farmers offers thanks to the nature for the bountiful rice harvest they do on a particular month called “Thai Maasam” and in the form of festival. Rice cooked in cow’s milk and a bit of salt, ghee and fried cashews is all needed for this paal pongal. Paal Pongal

Pongal –the harvest festival of Tamil Nadu which also marks the first day of Tamil month called “Thai masam”.  This coincides with Makara Sankranthi in North India. Pongal is a Tamil word which means to spill over. Traditionally new harvest rice is cooked in a clay pot which is decorated with colored paint and fresh turmeric is tied to the pot. Rice is cooked in milk and traditionally people let the rice-milk mixture boil and spill over. When the rice started to boil and spill over people gathered there shout the verse “Pongalo Pongal” . Some just boil milk in clay pots, some cook rice in milk. Even now in countryside of Tamil Nadu it is a common site to see people cook their pongal outside the house in traditional wood fire stove and clay pots. Once the rice boils over and gets cooked in milk, it is offered to Surya, the Sun God thanking him as he is the chief energy behind agriculture and a good harvest.

Paal Pongal

My mom used to cook rice in clay pots but on gas stove(as we could not get a wood fire stove setup in our house) when we were kids. She would make simple Ven Pongal where rice and moong dal(yellow lentils) is cooked in water. But sometimes she even made paal pongal where rice and moong dal is cooked in milk.

Paal pongal usually does not have the tempering we add to ven pongal. You can either make it plain paal pongal with no salt or add sugar to it and make a sweet version. For plain paal pongal, a spicy 7 kari kootu or any other spicy veg curry would be a better accompaniment.

Paal Pongal

Make this simple paal pongal dish for pongal festival along with 7 kari kootu. Serve it to the Sun god and delish it 😀

Paal Pongal
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Paal Pongal

Jyothi Rajesh
As traditional as it gets this paal pongal is THE MOST popular dishes made during pongal festival. Traditionally it's made from fresh harvested rice. Farmers offers thanks to the nature for the bountiful rice harvest they do on a particular month called "Thai Maasam" and in the form of festival. Rice cooked in cow's milk and a bit of salt, ghee and fried cashews is all needed for this paal pongal. 
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Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 45 mins
Total Time 50 mins
Course Breakfast, Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Servings 4 servings
Calories

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup raw rice(preferably fresh harvested rice if possible to source)
  • 2 tbsp yellow moong dal
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 ½ cups milk (pure cow's milk preferred)
  • 1 tsp ghee
  • few cashews

Instructions
 

  • Rinse and soak rice for about 20 minutes. Dry roast yellow moong dal on low flame until a nice aroma is released from the dal.
  • In a pressure cooker add roasted moon dal, rice and water. Pressure cook for 3 whistles. Switch off flame and wait until the pressure is released. Open the pressure cooker lid, mash the rice-dal mix well.
  • Place the cooker back on stove and add milk in slow streams while stirring. Make sure no lumps are formed. Once all milk is added and it blends well with rice, remove from flame. Remember as the pongal cools, it will turn dry.
  • In a small pan heat ghee. Roast cashews until golden brown in ghee. Turn off flame and add the roasted cashews to pongal. Mix.
  • Serve with 7-kari kootu

Notes

  1. If you can source fresh harvested rice and pure cow's milk this pongal will be the ultimate one. In cities it's hard to imagine sourcing fresh harvest rice, raw rice like ponni and sona masoori will work.
  2. I have used water and milk to cook this pongal, you can also use just milk to cook pongal. Use about 5 cups milk.
Did you make this recipe?Follow @CurryTrail and tag #CurryTrail to share your creation!

Looking for more Pongal Recipes? I have picked a few Pongal Special Recipes to help you cook some delicious pongal recipes and enjoy the festival with you family wand friends. :). Click on the title or image to go to the recipe.

Pongal Recipes Collage

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Pongal!

1. Ven Pongal | Khara Pongal | Ghee Pongal

Ven Pongal

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Sakkarai pongal | Sweet Pongal

sakkarai pongal

 

 

 

 

3. Oats Vegetable Pongal

Oats Vegetable Pongal

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Ezhu kari kootu | 7 vegetable thick stew

Ezhu kari kootu

 

 

 

 

5.Mochai Kozhumbhu

Mochai Kozhumbhu

 

 

 

 

6. Paal Payasam

Paal Payasam

 

 

 

 

7. Medhu Vada

Medhu Vada

 

 

 

 

8. Masala Vada

Masala Vada

 

 

 

 

9. Dill Leaves Masala Vadai

Dill Leaves Masala Vadai

 

 

 

 

10. Dill Leaves Cabbage Pakoda

Dill Leaves Cabbage Pakoda

 

 

 

 

 

 

11. Raw Mango Carrot Rice

Raw Mango Carrot Rice

 

 

 

 

12. Pudina Pulao

Homemade Mint Pulao

 

 

Paal Pongal
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    Comments & Reviews

  1. Rafeeda says

    January 18, 2016 at 12:04 pm

    How many varieties of pongal! We make a mix of rice and moong dal, in 2:1 quantity and call it kicheri… 🙂 Looks so delicious…

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      January 19, 2016 at 4:19 pm

      hehehe we have many varieties Rafee. A different pongal for a different mood/occasion 😀

      Reply
  2. shweta a says

    January 15, 2016 at 3:25 am

    happy pongal.
    beautiful collection 🙂

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      January 15, 2016 at 3:02 pm

      Thank you Shweta.. Happy Pongal

      Reply
  3. kushi says

    January 14, 2016 at 7:45 am

    Happy Pongal Jyothi 🙂 Your clicks are just amazing. Feel like having it right now 🙂 YUMMY! Beautiful post 🙂

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      January 14, 2016 at 8:33 am

      Thank you very much Kushi. Happy sankranthi to you and your family too 🙂

      Reply
  4. sathya@mykitchenodyssey says

    January 13, 2016 at 10:27 pm

    When i think about pongal i am getting the festive mood. thats a delicious collection jyothi..pongalo pongal.

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      January 14, 2016 at 6:59 am

      Pongalo pongal sathya. Thanks 😀

      Reply
  5. Revathi says

    January 13, 2016 at 7:56 pm

    Happy Pongal, Jyothi. I add a little milk while making Ven Pongal. But this Paal Pongal itself sound interesting. Your pics make it look very festive 🙂

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      January 13, 2016 at 8:43 pm

      Thank you Revathi. Happy Pongal to you and your family too

      Reply
  6. Uma Raghuraman says

    January 12, 2016 at 11:58 pm

    Hi Jyothi, the description of the ponga panai and the milk boiling from it just took me into the festivite mood. Beautifully written post.

    Reply
    • jyothirajesh says

      January 13, 2016 at 7:06 am

      Thank you very much Uma. Pongal festival is so special to all of us, and celebrating in traditional way is a a beautiful experience isn’t it!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. History & Significance of Sankranti + 25 Sankranti Recipes - Whislaffair says:
    January 5, 2019 at 8:33 am

    […] Paal Pongal – Paal Pongal is rice and dal cooked in milk. You can either have it plain or add sugar to it. Here is a recipe by Jyothi from Currytrail. […]

    Reply
  2. 15 Best Pongal Recipes - Curry Trail says:
    January 13, 2018 at 12:58 am

    […] 1. Paal Pongal  […]

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  3. Pongalo Pongal - Curry Trail says:
    January 13, 2017 at 11:16 am

    […] 1. Paal Pongal  […]

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