Instant Pot Ven Pongal Recipe

This instant pot ven pongal is one of the dishes I inaugurated my instant pot with. This easy and simple recipe is a staple dish for most south Indians. It is the south Indian equivalent of a risotto, but here we have both rice and moon dal instead of just rice. Commonly had for breakfast, ven pongal is a comfort food for many. It is one of my favorite dishes and I love to have this with loads and loads of sambar or gotsu!

I remember my hubby used to make this often for me in the first few months of our marriage. This was one of the very few dishes he knew to make well 🙂 It is that easy! So if you are new to cooking and want to start with an easy rice dish, this is for you.

Since the dish is mild, it is usually paired with some spicy chutney or sambar. Pongal, idli vada combo is one of the most popular breakfast item you will find in any South Indian restaurant in India. This dish has to be eaten piping hot, with buckets of those delicious accompaniments to go with it and it is usually drizzled with lots of ghee.

So if you are a vegan, I would not recommend ordering this in a restaurant as it is usually made with ghee, sometimes the rice is cooked in milk too. But at home, you could swap the ghee with a neutral tasting oil and I assure you will not find a lot of difference in the taste.

When your ven pongal cools down, the rice starts clumping together and it hardens a little bit. So if you are making this in an instant pot, you would keep it in the warm mode until it is ready to be served. For the leftovers, next day, add some piping hot water and mix well, until the rice reaches the consistency you need and adjust the salt accordingly as you are adding some extra water.

Don’t have an instant pot? You can easily make this in the normal pressure cooker. You would follow the steps as it is and cook it for 4 whistles and release pressure naturally. Lets jump to the recipe.

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Ven pongal

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

Rice and moong dal cooked with cumin and black pepper

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: South Indian

Author: cookingwithpree

Ingredients

Ingredients :

• 1 cup rice washed and drained I used white rice which is used traditionally. Feel free to substitute it with brown rice/ millets/ quinoa. They taste equally good
• 1/4 cup moong dal washed and drained
• 11/2 tsp ginger finely chopped reduce the qty if you dont like too much ginger
• 11/2 tsp pepper coarsely ground
• 11/2 tsp cumin
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• a big fat pinch asafoetida
• salt to taste
• 4 cups water more to bring it to the consistency you require
• 11/2 tbsp olive oil use ghee if not vegan
• 8 to 10 cashews sauteed in oil/ghee – optional for garnish

Instructions

1. Switch on the saute mode in your instant pot.
2. Add the olive oil and when it is hot, add the cumin seeds, finely chopped ginger, pepper, curry leaves and asafoetida. Saute for a minute. Be careful not to burn the spices.
3. Now add the moong dal to it and fry it for a minute.
4. When done, switch off the saute mode. Add the rice, 4 cups of water, salt as needed and cook in manual high for 15 minutes and natural pressure release.
5. Saute some cashew in olive oil/ghee and garnish the pongal with the nuts. Serve hot with sambar , gotsu or chutney!

Recipe Notes

If the pongal thickens when it cools down, add some hot water to dilute it to the consistency you desire.

Here are some chutney’s and sambars you could pair your pongal with – Peanut chutney, Onion tomato chutney Kovakkai and peerkangai chutney, Pasiparuppu dal / gotsu , Tiffin sambar or 7 thaan kootu

If you tried this Instant pot Pongal recipe and liked it, do share a picture with the hashtag #cookingwithpree on Instagram or Facebook. Would love to know what you guys have been cooking

Loving this Instant pot Ven Pongal and looking for more Instant pot or Vegan recipes? Check out Pinterest boards for inspiration. Happy cooking!