Banana Huggi Recipe | Banana Pongal : Unique pongal recipe

Wishing all of you a very happy Makara Sankranti | Pongal | Lohri.

 

 Did I mention before that we are moving again? Hold on.., this time we are moving to another house near by and not to another Country. I have made good friends here at my apartment and am definitely gonna miss them. Banana pongal is one of the recipes that I learnt from my friend here. I am planning to get as many recipes possible from her and try before I move. Keep watching this space, there's more coming :)

The color of the pongal will be anywhere from light brown to very dark brown depending on the type of jaggery used. However, the color does not alter the taste of the pongal in any ways.

Other pongal recipes 

Oats Pongal

Khara Pongal

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 40 mins
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:
Raw rice: 1/2 cup, refer notes
Water: 1 cup,
Banana: 1 medium sized, refer notes

Jaggery | Brown sugar: 1/2 cup, refer notes
Water: 1/4 cup, more or less
Ghee | Clarified butter: 3 tbsp + 2 tsp
Grated coconut: 1 tbsp, fresh or frozen
Cardamom powder: a pinch
Cashew nuts: 1/2 tsp
Chopped almonds: 1/2 tsp
Raisins: 1/2 tsp

Method:
Wash the rice thoroughly and let it soak for 30 mins.
Add the water to it. Pressure cook the rice for 4-5 whistles.Allow the cooker to cool for 10 mins.
Meantime, add water to the roughly pound jaggery and heat it on a medium heat.

When the jaggery is dissolved in water, strain the jaggery water. (Refer notes below)
Put the water back in the same sauce pan and bring it to a boil.
Mash the cooked rice.
When water starts boiling, add the cooked rice to it and mix well. Add 2 tbsp of ghee and allow the rice to cook again for 3-5 mins on low-medium heat.

Finely chop the banana and add the chopped banana to the rice mixture along with a tbsp of ghee.

Mix well and cook again for couple of mins.
Mash the bananas along with the rice and add the cardamom powder, grated coconut. Cook for 3-5 mins.

Meantime, heat about 2 tsp of ghee in a small sauce pan. When ghee is hot, throw in the chopped cashews and almonds.

When nuts turn golden brown, turn off the heat and add raisins. When raisins plump up, pour the nuts over the cooked pongal.

Mix well and serve it hot.

Notes:

• Raw rice is preferred for the pongal. But, if you do not have it, you could make is using ponni or sona masoori rice (or any small grain rice). I suggest adding a little more water to the sona masoori rice as they dont turn soft or mushy easily. (My rice did end up grainy as you can see in the pictures. I did not have raw rice).
• When the rice is still hot, mash the rice so that the huggi/pongal becomes mushy. 
• A well ripened banana is what we need for this huggi. Do not use the green ones.
• Our family prefers huggi to be sweeter. You could reduce the amount of jaggery to a little more than 1/4 cup (for the quantity mentioned above).
• Jaggery has lot of impurities. Hence, it is advised to strain the jaggery water before making anything using jaggery.

Oats Pongal

I bought a big batch of old fashioned oats from Costco thinking that I'll use it more often. The oats took a back seat as both the boys of my family avoid it. As I have mentioned many times before, I hate wasting and so, am trying to use up the oats now. One of my friend's told me that she made oats pongal and everyone liked it.

So, I thought of giving it a try for a weekday lunch. I was pretty sure that my boys wouldn't eat it. Hence, I cooked it for myself and I kinda liked it. I might make it again sometime for my weekday lunch.

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Serves:2-3

Ingredients:
Old fashioned oats: 3/4 cup, refer notes
Moong dal | Skinned gram dal: 1/3 cup
Turmeric powder: a pinch

Oil: 1 tsp
Ghee/Clarified butter: 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts: 1 tbsp
Curry leaves: 6-8 nos, torn
Grated ginger: 1 tsp
Pepper powder: 1/2 tsp
Green chili: 2 nos, chopped
Salt: As needed
Water: As needed, refer notes

Method:

Wash the moong dal thoroughly in water. Add the turmeric to the dal and pressure cook the moong dal for 3-4 whistles. Allow the dal to cook.
Heat oil and ghee together in a sauce pan. When the oils are hot, throw in the mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackle, add the cumin seeds. When cumin seeds turn golden brown, add the green chilies and the torn curry leaves. When leaves wilt, add the cashews and roast till the cashews turn golden brown.
When cashews are golden brown, add the grated ginger, pepper powder, turmeric and saute.
Add the water to the tempering and boil the water. Add the salt, oats and cook the oats on a medium heat for 5-7 mins.

The oats fluffs up and becomes soft.
Meantime, mash the cooked dal and keep it aside.
Added the mashed dal to the oats mixture and cook again for 5-7 mins until the oats is well blended and mushy.
Garnish it with some shredded coconut and serve the pongal hot.

Notes:

• I added about 2.5 cups of water. You would need about 2 cups of water for every 3/4 to 1 cup of oats. 
• I have made this pongal with instant or quick cooking oats too. If you use quick cooking oats, you would need much lesser water, and the cooking time would be very less too. I suggest adding 1.5 cups of quick cooking oats for 1/3 cup of moong dal.

Rava Pongal | Cream of wheat and lentil porridge

Wish you all a very happy Makar Sankranti | Lohri | Pongal!

Festival for me is all about having great time with family, cooking, eating & serving good food, not to forget to worship the God. We had a great weekend & hence was tired to cook elaborate meal on Monday morning. Since, it is the festival, I did not want to skip the tradition of making the pongal, both khara & sweet! I made this rava pongal instead of the regular rice pongal.

Pongal tastes divine with just a couple of ingredients that goes in. The magic of pongal lies in the ghee/clarified butter that is added!

Here goes the recipe for it.

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins (except the lentil cooking time)
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

• Moong dal/Split green gram lentils/Hesaru bele: 1/3 cup
• Cream of wheat/Rava/Uppittu rave: 1 cup
• Ghee/Clarified butter/Tuppa: 3 tbsp(divided use)
• Pepper powder: 1/4 tsp
• Pepper pods: 6-8 nos
• Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Cashew nuts: a fistful
• Curry leaves: 4-5 nos, torn
• Salt: As needed
• Water: 3 cups

Method:

• Heat the 1 tsp ghee in a pressure cooker. When ghee is hot, throw in the moong dal & saute the dal on medium heat until it slightly changes its color. Add in around a cup of water & pressure cook the dal for two whistles or 15 mins on medium heat. Allow it to cool.
• Meantime, heat a tbsp of ghee in a wok. When hot, throw in the cream of wheat & roast on a medium heat for 5-7 mins. The cream of wheat should turn golden brown & the aroma of the roasted rava should fill your kitchen!
• Boil 3 cups of water in a sauce pan.
• When the lentils are cooled, mash them thoroughly. (Refer notes)
• Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a broad pan. When ghee is hot, add in the cumin seeds & the cashew nuts. When nuts turn golden brown, throw in the curry leaves, pepper pods & pepper powder.
• When curry leaves wilt, add the hot water & salt.
• Pour in the roasted rava & mix well. Ensure no lumps.
• Add in the mashed dal & mix again. Cook it covered over low-medium heat for couple of minutes.
• Turn off the heat. Add couple of teaspoons of ghee, mix well & serve!

Notes:

1. My family prefers grainy dal over completely mashed. Hence, I keep them a little coarse (as seen in the picture).
2. Coconut chutney & kootu is a great combination for pongal.

Pongal Paddu | Guliappa | Paniyaram : Left over Delicacy!

It is rightly said that " necessity is the mother of invention". This recipe is one of the examples of it. My son wanted me to pack paddu for his lunch & my hubby did not want to take the previous night pongal. What would I do with so much left over? Though I would have made oats guliappa that doesn't need much time, I did not want to waste the pongal. TADA.., that is how this pongal guliappa came into existence at my home. It was delicious & no one at my home could guess it. I had asked my readers on facebook too.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins

Ingredients: (Serves 2-3)

• Left over pongal or khichdi: 2 cups
• Rice flour: 1 cup, approximately
• Quick cooking oats: 1/4th cup, optional
• Semolina/Rava/Cream of wheat: 1/2 cup
• Finely chopped onion: 1/4th cup
• Plain yogurt/Curd: 1/4th cup
• Salt: As needed
• Water: As needed to make the batter
• Oil: Few drops on each mould

Special utensil:
Aebleskiver pan/paddu pan

Method:
Mash the left over pongal thoroughly.
Add the rice flour, rava, oats, onion, yogurt, salt (pongal already has salt, adjust accordingly) to the mashed pongal. Mix well.
Slowly add in the water & mix to get the idli batter consistency. Let it rest for 15-20 mins.
Heat the paddu pan. When pan is hot, sprinkle oil on each mould.
Pour in a tablespoon of batter on each mould & cook it covered for about a minute.
Flip the paddu, brush the oil & cook on the other side too.
Repeat the procedure with the remaining batter.
Serve it hot with a chutney/dip/sauce of your choice.

Notes:

• There is no need to pulse the left over pongal in a food processor/hand mixer. Just mash it with your hands or a masher. 
• The above proportions mentioned are just an approximation. Adjust according to what you have at hand.

Pongal

Has anybody tasted pongal prepared in Karnataka restaurants, especially in Sagars, Nalpaks etc?? I just love the way they prepare. It will be semisolid (consistency of bisibele bath) in state & tastes heaven!!

But whenever I tried preparing, it wouldn't become that yummy. So, I got tips from a resturant owner :))) ( My hubby's grandfather was running a hotel business for almost 50 years & he, along with my father-in-law/mother-in-law keep sharing information on how to prepare dishes :)), lucky me, right?? ....).

Although I have made slight modifications to what was told, I give the complete credit of this recipe to them & ......me just posting on their behalf.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice (dont take basmati rice, just normal rice)
1 cup moong dal/hesaru bele
6-8 peppercorns
1 teaspoon pepper powder
1 tablespoon fresh coconut (grated or finely chopped)
1 green chilli
1 teaspoon ginger/shunti(grated)
1 teaspoon jeera/cumin seeds.
8 cashewnuts
4-6 curry leaves
1 tablespoon coriander leaves
salt according to taste
7 cups water
1 tablespoon ghee
1 tablespoon oil.

Method:

• Soak the rice for 30 mins.
• Dry roast the moong dal for a minute.
• Mix the moong dal, rice together, add 5 cups of water & pressure cook for 3-4 whistles.
• Heat a broad kadai, add ghee & oil to it.
• When oil is hot, add jeera. To this add, grated ginger, cashewnuts.
• Add green chilli & curry leaves after cashewnuts become golden brown.
• Add pepper corns & add remaining 2 cups of water to this kadai.
• Add salt, pepper powder. When starts to boil, add the cooked moong dal, rice mixture. Add small amounts at a time, ensure no rice lumps are formed.
• Mix the whole & add coconut & coriander leaves.
• Cook the same in a slow flame for 5 mins.
• Pongal is ready to serve, serve it with raitha, coconut chutney or imli chutney.

(PS: The recipe for stuffed chilli can be found here)

Hope you relish this as much as I do ;)